Julian's head

Hello Pittsburgh..

2011-01-07T08:56:00.000+08:00

Hi all..

I guess this is my once in a blue moon blog post... I haven't found much impetus to write a lot online these days...I guess it's also the inevitable result of fast social networks like Facebook and Twitter, right?

But anyway, greetings from Pittsburgh. I'm sitting on a rest area (with couches and TV) in a shopping mall, with Cher Siang reading a book, while waiting for fellow WVC TRiO member, Adam Osmianski, to finish teaching at a school and picking us up and taking us a club called CJ's for a jazz jam session.

Just in case you're in a blur of what's happening, this band is sort of in a small U.S. tour right now. This is in conjunction with Cher Siang coming to the US visiting New York City. What a good opportunity to do some gigs here in the US, right? So, anyway, we did our first (of three) shows in NYC in a nice place called Spike Hill, located in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. We played one 45 minute set, and basically got paid by tips. Luckily there was still a small crowd that came, even though we were the first band to go up (of three bands that night) at 8pm. I think some CDs were sold too... so that's always a nice thing. The band kicked ass, and I think overall it went well. I wished I played better though.. haha..

Anyway, we're now in Pittsburgh, and we are playing 3 sets at this place called Little E's tomorrow (Friday Jan 7th), and we're joined by a Pittsburgh bassist, called Tony DePaolis. Quite a killer bass player, he basically sight-read the music, and pretty much nailed all of it during the 4-hour rehearsal we did. I'm looking forward to playing tomorrow night.

Next stop after Pittsburgh is Morgantown, West Virgina, where we'll be playing at the Creative Arts Centre (CAC), in West Virginia University, Cher Siang's and Adam's alma mater. There'll be some masterclasses/workshops as well I believe. Can't wait to check out some new places.

Pittsburgh is a nice town, less urban density than in NYC, but still pretty urban in the downtown area. It seems to me it's mostly located on a hillier expanse.

On another note, looks like things for me will be a'changing again soon. Some of you already know what it is, but I will write about it next time. :)

Till then.. be safe everyone.

Later, peepz.

The Delights of Dana

2010-09-09T22:07:00.002+08:00

Hi everyone,

I would like to share this with all of you. My friend David M sent it to me via email, and it's a great piece of teaching. Even though this piece of teaching comes from a Buddhist monk, but its origins are much profound and divine, and it transcends any religions or modern self-help techniques. To me, it is definitely one of the secrets to having a happy life.. to enable others to have the same.

So do enjoy reading this article, as much as I enjoy passing it to you.

The Delights of Dana

By Venerable Ajahn Pasanno

On retreat a lot of emphasis is put on various insight practices, the goal and philosophy of meditation. We don’t think very much about the foundation that sustains the mind and the heart in a way that opens them to the way things truly are. Dana is that foundation.
Exactly what is dana? How do we cultivate this quality of giving, generosity, liberality and munificence? There are many different translations of the word dana. It is the quality of generosity that gives physically and from the heart. Hearts with dana are generous, open-handed, and liberal in terms of willingness to give, share, to be present and to help. All of those qualities take us away from me and my needs, me and mynecessities, me and my demands, me and my expectations,
me and my essential fixed residence in the middle of the universe. That me and mine position which demands that we be recognized and noted for our importance, takes over everything. It all gets very tiring.
Ajahn Sumedho has said, “Whenever I think of myself I feel depressed.” It’s such a great line. When dana is the center of life, instead of me and my needs, there is no need to be depressed. There is relief and release rather than anxiety and obsession. Dana is a dramatically different focal point. The perspective changes to “What can I give?”
In Thailand, generosity and giving are the first things you learn about Buddhism when you’re growing up. Pregnant women go to the temple, offer food and dedicate merit. “May my child be healthy and happy.” After birth, mothers continue to take their children to the temple, so giving becomes an integral part of their lives and continues through the lifespan.
When children are little, they get up early with their family to make offerings to the monks on alms rounds. Even when they are quite young, children are encouraged to give. They don’t really know what they are doing because they’re only two or three years old or even younger. Someone helps the child put a spoonful of rice in the monk’s bowl. As the rice drops in the bowl, everyone claps and says “great.” Children get the idea, “wow, giving is good.” They grow up with that pleasant feeling associated with generosity. It’s very natural because there is a cultural value placed on generosity and sharing.
It’s not just giving to monks and to the monastery that is part of the Thai culture. I noticed how natural it is for Thais to share. When we’d go to a dana, for a blessing ceremony in a village, we would usually be offered a Pepsi or Coke. After taking a few sips, we’d give the rest of bottle to one of the kids. Even if the child was little, he or she always shared it with friends. The adults do the same. The kids see generosity in their every day lives, so it gets reinforced. To grab the bottle, go off in the corner and gulp it down on your own doesn’t really happen. The impulse is to share and to experience the joy and happiness that comes from generosity. As a result, a special sense of connection is created and sustained.
A lot of the separation and isolation in Western society is not just because Westerners tend to have so many psychological problems. The basic values in the West are not oriented toward sharing or giving. There is an absence of habits and qualities which make a connection between people. It’s important to be attentive to that.
Just before coming into the hall I was telling Lance and Nick about going on alms round in the northeast of Thailand. Even though the area is very poor, people share what they have. You can get some pretty strange foods but it’s what they eat, and it’s what they are willing to share. There is always enough in that sense. The perception of lack is oftentimes just a perception. Giving is not about resources and materials. In fact, you don’t need a lot in order to give. At the root of generosity is the perception that there is always something, and enough to share.
During one of the first years that we were establishing Wat Pah Nanachat, the forest monastery Ajahn Chah set up for foreigners, the villagers would come and help build the place and set things up. One of the main villagers who helped out said, “I really don’t have any money, but I’m not poor.” He was referring to the fact that poverty is a state of mind. It’s not about what we actually have in terms of material resources. Sometimes we have a lot but we feel it’s not enough so we have to protect what’s there. We don’t even think about sharing what we have. That’s a state of lack and of being poor. On the other hand, giving and sharing come from a place of wealth. There is always enough.
How does one measure what’s enough? Once again, that measurement is a state of mind. The desire mind never has enough. What you desire doesn’t really matter. Whether it is food, clothing, money or property, it’s never enough. That’s just the nature of desire. Its nature is to always be seeking more or something else. The quality of dana, of generosity cuts through that desire mind. It allows us to come to that place of openness and giving, the heart at ease because it has enough.
There are many ways we can come to that place. We can work on generosity and learn to appreciate what it offers. We can consciously go against the desire mind by generating more generosity in our lives. We focus on turning to giving, relying on it, appreciating and delighting in it. In terms of practice, we cultivate and sustain generosity so that we don’t get pulled back into the desire mind or the mind of jealousy and comparison. It is so satisfying to feel there is enough and take joy and delight in that.
The desire mind not only operates in wanting more material possessions, it operates in spiritual practice as well. When we’re meditating, do we ever feel there is enough concentration or enough peace? The desire mind seeks more concentration, more tranquility, more peacefulness, more whatever. When there is a lack of peacefulness, we feel we need more. The feeling is justified because the scriptures say there must be peaceful states of mind in order to have wisdom, for insight to arise. So we redouble our efforts to get more peace and the result is often frustration and misery. “Where is my peace of mind?”
Similarly, when do we ever have enough wisdom? The desire mind also needs more wisdom, more refined insight into anicca, dukkha, anatta, so “I can finally get rid of my defilements and experience freedom.” There is no end to the desire mind, needing more, getting more or having to have. Ajahn Chah described the mind and heart of tanha, as the mouth that never closes. The desire mind goes around with an open mouth looking to consume and gather things in. You can actually feel that in your mind. It is the feeling of leaning towards things, on the lookout for the next thing to consume, possess and experience. It’s not a restful place at all.
Generosity is the opposite of this misery. Giving provides a base of contentment, joy and delight. A few years ago, we put a little notice in the Abhayagiri newsletter before I went to Thailand. We announced that there is a tradition of offering gold, silver, jewelry and other valuables to melt down and put into the Buddha image. And since we were pouring a Buddha image for the monastery, we wanted the community to know about this opportunity to make offerings. From a completely materialistic, practical, utilitarian perspective, it’s really stupid to do this. What a waste. From the perspective of generosity, it’s a wonderful thing to do. To give something of value that’s put into an object of reverence and devotion is very precious and delightful. We received packages from all over the States. In some cases, we couldn’t figure out how some people heard about what we were doing. Even a Christian monk sent things for us. People not only sent jewelry, someone sent gold teeth! I ended up carrying almost 8 pounds of gold and silver to Thailand. Explaining to customs officials and security guards why I had all of this was quite interesting.
At the actual ceremony, even more valuables were offered. It is hard to say exactly how much more. Those who were there said it was a lot. The day of the Buddha pouring was steeped in goodness and generosity. About a thousand people were present. There was such excitement that a Buddha image was being made and then shipped to America. People came to create goodness together which ultimately turned into a physical form that would be present in the world. Giving and delight lays a foundation. It’s the entry point into the Dhamma, before virtue, precepts and meditation. This is how Buddhism is taught in Thailand and in other Buddhist cultures. Generosity is the foundation, the place from which we begin the practice.
In the West, we start by learning how to meditate and after a while we think maybe “I’d better get some Precepts.” Then toward the end, especially at the end of a 10 day retreat, generosity and dana are mentioned. Actually, it doesn’t really matter when we pick it up. It is a matter of realizing that generosity is the foundation of the heart that feels free and unencumbered. One of the doorways out of suffering is generosity. As I said earlier, it’s important to realize that’s it’s not just about material giving. It also involves service and keeping ones eyes open for what needs to be done and asking “How can I help? Who is in need of assistance?”
There is a lot of weight given to individualism and self-sufficiency in the West. We shrink back from helping each other. But of course, nothing is absolutely black or white. For example, Thai and Western children are treated and raised very differently. I oftentimes tease Thais about this. I remember seeing my sister’s tiny children holding a spoon and going after their food with gusto. Before they learn to speak, they learn to use a spoon to get food into their mouths. In Thailand, you see six year old kids wandering around with a nanny or their mother trailing behind trying to feed them with a spoon. The kids haven’t figured out how to feed themselves yet.
In order to feel comfortable helping others, we have to leap over the hurdle of self, of me and mine. We put ourselves in a vulnerable position by helping others; it can be frightening or trigger our vulnerability. Acts of service invite us to step out of the boundaries that we set up for ourselves. Whenever those boundaries are jostled in any way, we feel uncomfortable or threatened. These boundaries are totally conditioned and part of the conventional realm. We need to be able to consciously stretch our boundaries from time to time. Helping others and offering service are ways of stepping beyond the boundaries of our imaginary self. This gives us a lot of confidence in negotiating the human realm instead of getting bogged down in the protected areas of our being that are easily threatened. A sense of ease and well-being in any situation is one of the best gifts we can offer to ourselves and to others.
Abhayadana is another traditional way of giving dana. Abhayais part of the name Abhayagiri. In Thai, abhaya is usually translated as forgiveness. We give forgiveness by not holding a grudge, ill-will or aversion. This kind of giving is considered a higher form of dana than material giving because it is a lot harder to forgive than it is to give material things.
Opening the heart to forgiveness, kindness and acceptance are really quite exalted states of mind. A lot of joy enters the heart when forgiveness is cultivated. It becomes second nature. And even if one can’t offer forgiveness, at least there is recognition, “That’s a good thing to do. I’ve got to figure out a way to open my heart to this person who really bugs me.”
Fearless Mountain is the English translation of the name Abhayagiri. This fearlessness is an offering of security and trust when actions are motivated by goodness, generosity and virtue. We are not threatened, nor are we threatening. We don’t generate fear and suspicion. We feel at ease and secure with any one. To be able to consistently live this way and give that to other human beings is a wonderful gift. As we continue to practice and the mind becomes increasingly aware of what motivates us, we can see how much fear we carry. If we act this out, the human realm ends up filled with fear, competition and about getting what one can in a “dog eat dog” kind of way.
In Thailand dogs are not treated like they are in the West. In one monastery where I lived, all of the leftovers were mixed together and then put in a tire which had been cut in half. Even though there was plenty of room for all of the dogs to eat, there was fighting, biting and chaos everyday. Every dog was out to get the most. The mind that is in a competitive fear realm is always worrying about getting “enough.” It’s a miserable state of mind. Our commitment is to create a human realm from within based on dana, trust and truth.
There’s an old story about the difference between heaven and hell. The hell realms are filled with people who sit at long banquet tables piled high with all sorts of delicious foods and drinks. But everyone is completely miserable and hungry, because the utensils are too long to maneuver. No matter how hard they try, they can’t put the food in their mouths. The nourishment is there, but nobody can get to it. The heavenly realm is the same: the tables are laden with the same delicious food and with the identical utensils that look impossible to maneuver. But the people are happy and bright because they are using the utensils to feed one another. There is no hunger or frustration, only fullness and well-being, within the identical conditions. Giving and sharing is what turns a hell realm into a heavenly one. There is a sense of security and trust that people are there to help one another, which is why abhayadana is a higher form of dana. With practice and spiritual maturity, different forms of dana become integrated and ultimately, inform each other.
The highest form of dana is Dhammadana, which means the giving of Dhamma and of the teachings. Traditionally, making teachings available to others by helping to print Dhamma books is one of the highest forms of giving. There are many other ways that Dhammadana can be offered in daily life. People think they need to be a monastic or an Ajahn to give teachings. But this is not so. Any kind of advice that is grounded in Right View and Right Understanding that is given with an open heart and good intentions is Dhammadana.
The offering of Dhammadana is so powerful that even if it’s ignored or trashed, it is still the highest form of dana. Dhamma books used as doorstops or coasters cannot destroy or diminish this pure and priceless gift.
Ajahn Chah encouraged people to share their experiences. They didn’t have to be anything exalted or obtuse. Helping people be more at ease and to suffer less was one of his basic teachings. In fact, Ajahn Chah said that to practice Dhammadana, you didn’t have to teach or to say anything at all. “It’s enough to set good examples and follow the Precepts.”
Ajahn Chah frequently referred to Sariputta’s introduction to the Buddha’s teaching. He emphasized the essence of the story to monks and to anybody who practiced Dhamma: the way we live gives more weight than spoken words. Sariputta became interested in the Holy Life when he saw one of the first disciples of the Buddha walking on alms-round. The dignity, composure and the clarity that was involved in the simple activity of walking inspired a lot of faith in Sariputta. He then requested teachings from this monk who humbly replied, “I’m newly ordained and don’t know much.” But Sariputta insisted on hearing the Dhamma from him. The monk, Assaji said, “All things that arise, arise from a cause, and all things end because the causes have ended.” Although he offered the gift of Dhamma through words and deeds, it was the monk’s noble presence that first inspired Sariputta. So Ajahn Chah always reminded us that actions speak louder than words.
Parents often asked Ajahn Chah what they should teach their children. Ajahn Chah would turn the question right back to the parents. “It doesn’t matter what I say, what do you say? What doyou do?” If there is a tree way over there and a tree close by and a vine starts growing which tree will it climb? The closest one, of course. It’s the same with parents. Their example has a bigger effect than anyone else. The examples we set in the monastery, within society or within families are all aspects of Dhammadana. The gift of giving virtuous conduct and of living a life with Dhamma at its center has an extraordinarily powerful effect.
When you think of the people who have had the biggest positive impact in our life, they embody integrity in some way. It’s not because of the kind of cars they own or the vacations they’ve taken. We value them because they have been trustworthy, kind and patient with us. They’ve made us feel good, no matter how badly we feel about ourselves. This kind of giving is not beyond the capacity of anybody. Increasing well-being and decreasing dukkha are gifts we can all give.
Generosity feeds and flows into everything we do. We can even bring an attitude of sharing into our meditation practice while sitting alone in our kutis. Meditation is not just about me. Sharing it with those we care about and with all beings has a different effect. This kind of giving transforms the heart by taking us out of the capsule of self and of me. We quickly realize that the me and mineuniverse is terribly cramped and crowded. When we can turn our attention to the world that is outside of that, we realize the world is spacious and expansive. There are so many opportunities for sharing, giving, and for living in accordance with Dhamma. Embracing these opportunities allows petty concerns and ways we perpetuate suffering to drop away.

I offer these reflections to you this evening.

This talk is taken from the book

A Dhamma Compass
By Ajahn Pasanno

Abbot of Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery
16201 Tomki Road
Redwood Valley, CA 95470
USA, (707) 485-1630
www.abhayagiri.org

Charlie Parker Jazz Fest @ Marcus Garvey Park

2010-08-29T11:10:00.001+08:00

Hello peepz,

I just got back not long ago from Marcus Garvey Park up on East 124th St in Harlem, where the Summerstage Charlie Parker Jazz Festival took place. It's an annual event organized by City Parks Foundation, in tribute to Charlie Parker.. and this year it's also held in conjunction with the birthdays of Charlie Parker and Lester Young.. two great saxophone players that revolutionized the voice of the saxophone and jazz.

This free concert had three acts - Revive Da Live, JD Allen Trio, Jason Moran and the Bandwagon, and finally the headline of the evening, the great McCoy Tyner!

I only managed to get there in time to watch the start of JD Allen Trio's set (Revive Da Live was the first band to play), and like the set I watched once in Fat Cat, JD's trio was a powerhouse trio in his own right, calling upon some of the greatest tenor saxophone influences, such as Sonny Rollins as well as John Coltrane. What was amazing was that JD didn't even stop to talk, but segued from one piece to the next, and he doesn't seem to run out of energy even after all that (virtually non-stop) playing! This is what one would describe as "letting the music speak for itself". Being a saxophone trio, one cannot help but expect a somewhat evocative spiritual trio sound, very much in the vein of Coltrane, and perhaps some of the later tenor sax greats such as David S. Ware, David Murray, etc. The approach focus seemed less on trying to give out as much jazz vocabulary, but more on spontaneity, melodic and rhythmic intensity, expression based on color and shapes, as well as group dialogue. Since there was no verbal interaction with the audience, no one would know what tunes JD played, leaving us to immerse one's self in the heat of the summer sun, and the evocative nature of the music, which seemed adequate anyhow.

The second band to play was pianist Jason Moran, and his Bandwagon, with Tarus Mateen on electric bass and Nasheet Waits on drums! This is one of the few times I actually get to see a piano trio with electric bass. It's unusual, I think, but in this case, it was more than an exception! The nature of Moran's playing and his music, seemed to allow non-acoustic temperament of the electric bass to enhance the sound of the trio. Of course, it's done with absolute taste by Tarus Mateen, who used it the way it should in this set up. It's my first time watching Nasheet Waits play, and boy was I in for a treat. How I would describe it? Amazingly tasteful! Rhythmic complexity and flexibility is a given, as that is Moran's style from the little I've heard of Moran's music. But all done with great taste and precision. This show he did something interesting, by inserting a full audio sample of recorded jazz standards of old, and had the band play along with it. In one song, he basically played back the track of Eddie Jefferson singing the vocalese version of Coleman Hawkin's solo of Body & Soul, and the band basically played over it, like they were the musicians on that record date, but in a contemporary fashion! This was my first time watching piano powerhouse Jason Moran live, and I hope it won't be the last!

The highlight of the evening was the solo piano performance of the great Mr. McCoy Tyner. Before Mr. Tyner even played a single note on the piano, everyone was already standing in ovation, cheering for the legend that he is. Mr. Tyner performed a bunch of originals such as Fly With The Wind, and also Blues on the Corner, and even played his former saxophonist bandleader's original, Mr. PC. From this performance, one could already see the effects of old age, in Mr. Tyner's playing.. he hardly played anything at breakneck tempos, and that is to be expected... but the intensity and the soulfulness that shone brighter than the evening sun nevertheless maintained in his playing. Oh what a blessing it was to be able to catch one performance by this jazz and piano legend!

Tomorrow's concert (Sunday 29/8) will be at Tompkins Square Park. Not entirely sure if I'll be able to catch that one. But if I do, I'll try to write about it.

Later, y'all.

Back in NYC, again...and a summary of summer! Part One.

2010-08-23T14:10:00.002+08:00

Hello again,

I guess I can get the first prize for being a blog-slacker, no? LOL! Well, all with good reason. As the title of this post suggests, I'm back again in the Big Apple. My last post was basically about my graduation, and basically the end of my school life.. officially, at least.

Since my last post, I had been busy hanging out with my folks during their stay in New York, then flew back to Malaysia for 2.5 months for the summer break, and now I'm back here in NYC, again. And of course, my pilgrimage home was well-needed one, and it was not without its interesting slew of events and experiences! But I was most pleased that I got more time to spend with my folks and with my friends, although I wished that I had more... LOL! At least I don't hear my mom complaining too much this time 'round!

So here's a little summary of my summer break music events:

June 2010:

MPO Happy Hour - "The Duke Live in KL"

A performance of Duke Ellington's small group works led by MPO co-principal trombonist Marques Young. This ensemble featured Marques, myself on saxophone, John Thomas (drums), Gabriel Evens (piano), and Fly (bass) featuring guest artistes Elvira Arul (vocals), Scott Thimble (tuba) and Yow Weng Wai (alto sax). This was my debut performance in Malaysia's prestigious Philharmonic Hall, so it was quite a thrill and a small dream realized. We performed pieces such as Cottontail, In A Sentimental Mood, Take The A Train, C Jam Blues, Just Squeeze Me, and some others.

MPYO Plays Jazz (featuring Fritz Renold & The Bostonian Friends, and the Encounter Jazz Programme)

This was definitely one of the most interesting shows I've done in a while, and also during this summer break. I was enlisted to join the Encounter Jazz Programme (a side project of the M'sian Philharmonic Orchestra, led by MPO co-principal trombonist Marques Young), to be part of the Malaysian Philharmonic Youth Orchestra (MPYO) along with Swiss saxophonist/composer/arranger Fritz Renold and his group, The Bostonian Friends. The Bostonian Friends consists of Randy Brecker (trumpet), Christian Jacob (piano), Reggie Hamilton (bass), Danny Gottlieb (drums) and Steve Reid (lead trumpet). What a splendid line-up, and a dream come true for some of us jazz cats from half the world away!

After a one-and-a-half-weeks rehearsal session (one week for the EJP and the Bostonian Friends), we played at the Petronas Philharmonic Hall for two nights, presenting 3 suites: Fritz Renold's 5-movement Nusantara Suite (a world-premiere performance), and two Duke Ellington tone poems - Night Creatures and Harlem. This concert was definitely one of the most challenging musical performance that I've done to date, playing a world premiere piece (the music was VERY challenging, to say the least!), and also trying to call the spirit of alto sax master Johnny Hodges in the Ellington pieces. But it was an amazing and unforgettable experience, having to play great music, as well as being on the same stage with jazz greats!

July 2010:

Claude Diallo Situation Live @ No Black Tie

An amazing trio from Switzerland and France! Pianist Claude Diallo is a fellow Queens College coursemate, who graduated the semester I first got into QC. Oddly enough we never really played together (except once when I was subbing another friend for a recital rehearsal, and a big band reading) until this two-night performance at KL jazz club No Black Tie. Playing with Claude was bassist Laurent Salzard and drummer Massimo Buonanno. They stayed over for the weekend and we played a lot of Claude's original compositions and arrangements and a few jazz standards.. and it was also an exciting and challenging musical experience for me, like I would always tell some of my Malaysian musician close friends: I'm totally spoiled with playing with seriously good rhythm section musicians in the US! And needless to say, a visit to Malaysia would not be a good one without the Malaysian hospitality, we got to hang out and have some awesome Malaysian food! Nothing beats the real thing!

Junji Delfino's 50th Year Celebration Concert and "HERE I AM" Album Launch

This event was a double landmark for jazz songstress Junji "Jazzmamma" Delfino. It's her 50th year of life, and also the release of her debut solo album "HERE I AM".

Junji booked me to play this concert with her, along with some of her closest friends and music colleagues - her husband and Malaysian jazz piano luminary David Gomes, another Malaysian jazz legend/pianist Michael Veerapen, guitarist Jordan Rivers, and the juniors Hiro Maekawa on bass, Steve Nanda on drums, Eddie Wen on trumpet/flugelhorn, and myself on saxophones. Guest appearances include Edwin Sumun (with his alter-ego SHELAH on one of the shows), Instant Cafe Theatre founder comedienne Jo Kukathas, the "voice of Malaysia" Patrick Teoh, veteran songstress (and one of my musical "mamas") Salamiah Hassan, and up-and-coming young stand-up comedian Kuah Jenhan.

This three-nights concert was one of the most emotional concerts I've ever done, I have to say... and I really seldom get something like that. I guess this was more than just an ordinary concert, it was a celebration of life... and it was with a group of people I would also consider as a second family. Of course, the music also spoke for itself, and Junji definitely shone all three nights, and I was proud and blessed to be part of it.

PS: Just a plug.. GET THE ALBUM, it's a truly beautiful album! Send an email to Junji Delfino by clicking here, or on her Facebook public page to request an order from her.

August 2010:

Fung Chern Hwei "From The Heart" CD Release @ No Black Tie

This was also another musical highlight for me. This is my 'gugu' brother, violinist/composer Fung Chern Hwei's debut CD release, called "FROM THE HEART". We recorded this in mid-December 2009, and I played three tracks on it, as well as co-produced it. My being a producer was a rather incidental occurence, but nevertheless, I took it on like it would be my own personal project. As such, it was also a labour of love on my part as well, and I am blessed and proud to be part of this. This album consist of five piano duo tracks (with Chern Hwei and Francesca Han on piano), two jazz ensemble tracks (with the addition of myself on saxophones, Jeremy Harman on cello, and Jens Ellerhold on drums), and one classical quartet piece (with Chern Hwei, myself, Francesca, and Jeremy) - a Robert Schumann piece Andante Cantabile re-arranged by Chern Hwei. With exception of the Schumann piece, everything else were original compositions by Chern Hwei and one original by Francesca.

The CD release concert at No Black Tie featured Chern Hwei, myself, the inimitably tasteful Justin Lim on piano (one of the best musical pianists in Malaysia, if not the best), John Thomas on drums, Fly on double bass, and featuring Elizabeth Tan on cello. It was probably also my first performance playing a classical piece, as we also played the Schumann piece we recorded! Definitely a memorable musical highlight of the summer.

PS: Another plug... if you're interested in getting Fung Chern Hwei "FROM THE HEART" CD, send Chern Hwei an email here! Do get it, it's an amazing album, that showcases a truly Malaysian talent!

That's it for now, stay tuned for the second instalment of my summer break.

Part Two.. coming soon!

Graduation

2010-05-28T05:02:00.000+08:00

That's it.. I'm officially done.

I just got back from my graduation commencement at Queens College, and I'm happy to announce that I am officially a Master of Arts (although I'm really.... REALLY.... far from being a real master!). It only felt like not long ago I had just come to New York, and to Queens College to study with not only great teachers, but also with great people in the school. I know that for a lot of us who live half the planet away, to be able to study with people that we want to study with badly is one heck of a big dream. For some, that dream does come true, and I must say that was the case for me. And I'm so eternally grateful for that opportunity.

I had a blast studying in QC, and to say I have learnt a lot is both and under-and-over-statement. There's so much I've gained from my short time here, but there's so much TO learn that I know I've not learned enough. And I've not yet fully applied what I got to learn to the best I can (yet!). Well, I'm definitely gonna take advantage of the extra time I have to get some more knowledge, and learn to apply them!

One of the biggest thing about what I enjoyed about QC is getting to know a lot of cool cats, and they come from ALL over the world...and that is NOT an overstatement. I was tempted to name everyone (or at least as far as I can remember) but I don't think I will.. I'm still a lazy person at heart! LOL!

But I'd like to extend my congratulations to the graduating class (of the Masters Jazz program) of 2010.. I'm so happy to be able to join you guys and gals in this momentous occasion!

CONGRATULATIONS to Rafal Sarnecki, Willie Harvey, Eric Teichman, Anthony Vanacore, Spiro Sinigos, Eun-jin Lee, Le Zhang, Dean Sagafiez, Keith Yaun, Carlos Mena, Janis Goerlich, Masayuki Negoro, Jungmin Lee, C.J. Glass, Ryan Weisheit, Adia Leadbetter, Majid Khaliq, Trevor Long, Lola Danza, and Russ Flynn! I hope I didn't miss anyone out...

... and good luck!

JC

Recital is DONE!!

2010-05-07T07:12:00.000+08:00

It's done... over! I've finally finished my graduation recital!!

Well, I'm not going to do a post-mortem of it.. well, not right now anyway (my dad took videos, so if it's good I'll post it up youtube, if not, it's going into my archives! LOL!). I'm not sure how it went really, but I had a great time playing, anyhow. It was a thrill no doubt.

But I'd like to take this opportunity to give thanks to a few important people, not just for the recital, but for a whole lot of other things that made my New York experience a special one:

My parents - for their unending support, love and guidance! No words can express my gratitude for you.

My professors - Pr. Antonio Hart, Pr. Michael Mossman, Pr. Howard Brofsky, Pr. David Berkman. Your guidance, knowledge, wisdom, and friendship is something I don't think I could get anywhere else. I feel eternally blessed that I've been given the opportunity to study with all of you, there is no replacement for the experience I've had with all of you! There are lots more to learn, and I hope I can still continue to learn from you, even after graduation.

My teachers/seniors back in Malaysia: Greg Lyons, Thomas Theseira, David Gomes, Junji Delfino, Michael Veerapen, Jose Thomas, Farid Ali, Mac Chew, and many others. Thanks for giving me a big head start on something that I wouldn't have thought I had any chance or talent to be in. Your friendship and guidance is also something that could not be replace by anything in this world.

All my Malaysian mates, both musicians and non-musicians - your support, friendship, and talent is something which has lighted my way in more ways than one. You all are part of who I am today.

My QC mates - thanks for your friendship, and your musical knowledge! I've learnt so much from playing and hanging out with of you! Looking forward for more!!

Fung Chern Hwei - thanks brother... 'nuff said! "Raisins"? ;)

My bandmates for my recital: Jens Ellerhold, Michelle Marie, Ayako Sato, Rozhan Razman, Carlos Mena, Fung Chern Hwei, Yu-Chen Han, Chi-Jui Lee, Muneyoshi Takahashi, Rob Mosher, Jackson Hardaker, Sengkook Ha - Thanks for making it happen!! Whatever happened (or didn't happen) in the recital, it doesn't matter.. I just hoped you guys had fun as much as I did! BIG THANKS!!

I'm DONE!!

WOOOHOOO!!!

Now, the future beckons...

Major neglect...!!

2010-04-22T02:56:00.002+08:00

I can't believe how much I've neglected this blog. I guess with Facebook and Twitter and whatsnot.. I guess it's almost inevitable blogging might face a downturn in activity, or at least in my case. I know there have been readers of my blog (including my parents) that I would've updated it more often, so to you all, I offer my sincerest apologies.

It's 4 months close to a year since I last posted something here.. that's a pretty long hiatus, I must say. The longest I've ever really taken on my blog. To cut to the chase, I've just been pretty involved with music and school here in New York, and since it's much faster to be networking around on Facebook/Twitter, most of my networking activities have been scaled down to that. In effect, I think I probably have lost a lot of thoughts I could have written down for you to read, hopefully I may get some of them, and write down some new ones.

Anyway, to cut the big story short, this few weeks would be a pretty interesting juncture for me. As most of you know, I'm here in NYC studying for my Masters in Queens College. And guess what, after 2+ years being here... I'm graduating!!

YES... I'm graduating!! I'm almost done with school! But wait.. it almost feels like I just got here! I bet a lot of you may have a similar kind of feeling for different or similar situations.

Well, I've got a lot of thoughts.. some of you say I may be thinking too much.. yeah, I am, can't help it. Anyhow, the interesting thing is that after my graduation, real life begins.. both musical and personal. I'm really intrigued, excited, and scared to see where I'll be heading the next few years. Interestingly, I am unable to see what's ahead... I used to be able to, at least while I was still in Malaysia. I was able to more-or-less know where I'm gonna head (question is always WHEN). But this time, I just could not. It's like standing on a cliff, with fog all around.. no turning back.. only forward. I definitely will jump... but where will I end up?

I had an interesting conversation with a good friend, who is also very spiritual, and he made an interesting observation about those thoughts I've had - Malaysia is so small, that I could see pretty much all possibilities. But now that I'm out here, in the big ocean, and it's fogged up, it's quite intimidating nonetheless. I still got to move on... so yeah... time to move on!

I'll be performing my graduation recital in 2 weeks, I'm looking forward to it. But it's also been pretty busy trying to prepare for it, too. I pray that I'll do well at it.. and I'll put in my best. That's always been my motto... although I always feel I never put in enough.

I hope to be able to write up here more, too.

Till next time.. look forward to hear from any of you, any thoughts to share.

Thanks.

Back In NYC...

2009-09-05T14:18:00.003+08:00

After a loooonnnnggg flight, I'm finally back in New York City.

It had been quite an interesting summer back in Malaysia, played a lot of gigs, ATE a lot of food, and met a few people. I guess my one regret is that I didn't get to spend as much time with the folks as I should have. Booked myself silly.. not necessarily the best idea. Probably won't try booking myself too much the next time around, and maybe will get the chill a little.

Flight to New York was much longer this time.. just because I had to take China Airlines. Flight to Taipei for transit was cool, although in-flight entertainment was rather limited, we got our own screens, but no on-demand. Then had to stay in Taipei overnight, which was alright, as I got to catch up with some old friends who were staying there now, and of course, ate a lot! Then from Taipei we actually flew to Anchorage instead (this wasn't in the itinerary), and the food wasn't as good, and the in-flight entertainment was worse. A general TV screen for everyone, and you can't even choose your channel(!).. dang!! Oh yeah.. I tried to ask for an aisle seat, but couldn't, only got window seat. But what was NOT cool was that I got seated NEXT to the emergency exit, which meant smaller leg space! Blardy hell.

Anchorage, in ALASKA (yes I finally got a small taste of Alaska!) was a short stop, got to see some nice mountain-top view (will post pics later), and also did the immigration there instead of JFK. So Anchorage turned out to be a domestic transit, so that was a good thing. But plane still sucked.

Now, I'm back sitting on my bed in my rented room in this house in Jackson Heights.. and it's back to my other 'life' now.

Welcome back Jules, to NYC! *and why the hell am I talking to myself?*

Time to get workin'..

Later.

Last summer shows!

2009-08-12T00:48:00.002+08:00

Man.. time flies like a Japanese bullet train. It wasn't long ago, that I am back for summer holidays, and now the holidays are almost over. I had a lot of fun (and not-so-fun stuff, too) while I was back here. A lot of things transpired this past three months that have had a great effect on me. And I was working a lot.. like crazy actually! The moment I got home, I was already out for rehearsals for the WVC Trio + 1 concerts (and album recording), and trying to fight off jetlag at the same time... and everything else after that.

Anyway, I just wanted to update my last few shows before I fly off back to New York for another (almost) full year to finish my studies:

14 - 15 Aug (Fri & Sat, 10:30pm, free admission) : The Q Sound @ Alexis Bistro, Ampang

28 - 29 Aug (Fri & Sat, 10:30pm, free admission) : The Julian Chan Quartet @ Alexis Bistro, Ampang.

That's it for the summer break.. wasn't much of a break, really.. but I definitely had fun being back home in my comfortable bed, with home-cooked food, and simply just Malaysian food! Woooohhhh!!

Anyway, hope to catch you at the shows. Do come by and say hi. I may look like I will eat you, but I'm a big soft cuddly person inside (puts on Shrek's Puss in Boots beady cat eye looks!). ;)

Later!

JC

Malaysian road users..

2009-07-29T12:54:00.002+08:00

... can be a real stupid lot (myself not excluded) sometimes.

Here I was walking back to my car in this small town road in Kajang, and there was traffic halt from stopping at the red light.. that's normal. Then I heard an ambulance siren going off like nobody's business.. and guess what?

No one's moving.

There's plenty of room to move aside for some of them, but do they move? NoooOOoooOo...

It only takes one person to move, and enable others to move as well. Civic-mindedness my butt. Oh wait, do they still teach that in school these days? Or don't they know what it is anymore? See, Education Minister.. having Moral Education is a waste of money and resources. And here you guys are squirming your heads around teaching subjects in English or Malay (I know.. no relation, since it's Science and Maths). Teaching something well is the main priority. Obviously the education system here fails in that respect. Sorry to say. Ok, this has no relation to this post, but who cares, right?

So yeah, back to road users. Imagine if one of your loved ones is the one who's in emergency, and you're not moving for the ambulance to move to pick him/her up. It's YOUR fault.. yes...

.... YOURS!

Don't wait for other people to move. If you can do it first, then do it, dammit. You might save a life, or two.

Peace.

WVC Trio + 1 latest album "ELEVEN" is out!!

2009-07-27T11:34:00.003+08:00

Hi all,

I'm proud to announce here that WVC Trio + 1's latest recording effort, "ELEVEN" is out! And I'm also proud to say that I'm grateful that I've been given an opportunity to be also a part of this effort, thanks to my band mates, Vincent Ong, Tay Cher Siang and Adam Osmianski.

This CD features a fantastic line-up, a Malaysian-American connection, consisting of Tay Cher Siang (piano), Vincent Ong (bass), Adam Osmianski (drums), and myself on saxophones. All the tunes are original compositions from Cher Siang, Adam and Vincent. (NB: Next one I will definitely have at least one of mine in!)

Here is the song list in the album:

1. The Art of the Wind-Up Alarm Clock
2. Hunger Strike
3. Standing in the Rain on Euclid Ave.
4. Little Steps
5. Merry Go 'Round
6. Caipifruta
7. Dawn
8. Cherish the Siamese Twins
9. Golden Monkey
10. Strollin' in One Town
11. Rhumba for a Sad Sad Witch

You can listen to some of the new compositions that are not included in the album from reverbnation.com. Here is the link:

http://www.reverbnation.com/wvctrio

You can get this CD at Rock Corner at Bangsar Village and One Utama, also Tower Records at Lot 10! Otherwise you can personally get it from me, by sending me an email or giving me a call at +6012-2732378 (Malaysia) or +1-646-886-9688 (US, but only from September).

Hope to hear from you!

Support Malaysian music!!

JULIAN

Upcoming shows!

2009-07-26T13:46:00.002+08:00

Hi all,

I know I haven't been really diligent in updating my blog.. truth be told... I got lazy, because I got too busy! LOL! Sorry, y'all.. but anyway, just to keep this blog rolling a bit, I've got some gig updates. Hope to see you at some of the shows this week!

29/7 Michael Veerapen Quartet @ No Black Tie 9.30pm

30/7 John Thomas' Powderful Quartet @ Groove Junction 10pm

31/7 & 1/8 Julian Chan's Boplicity @ Alexis Bistro and Wine Bar 10.30pm

More updates soon, so stay tuned!

Remember, do drop by and say hi... and support Live Music & Jazz in Malaysia!

Summer break..

2009-05-23T03:11:00.002+08:00

Hah, I can't believe the next post after my "Spring Break" post is my SUMMER BREAK post.. lol! Sorry lah damn kau busy here in school..

Anyway, I'll be back in Malaysia for the summer again, and I can't wait for it too, in fact. One of the things I'm looking forward to is having the time to practice at home (where I can practice as loud and as long as I want! Muahaha!), hanging out with my family and my friends (who to me are family too!), go running, walking with my dogs, eat GREAT Malaysian food, and of course... PERFORMING! Hehe.. me being the stage whore I am, I've already worked out quite a few shows back in Kuala Lumpur, and also in some other parts of Malaysia too (stay tuned for that one!).

Some of the highlights of my summer break performances will include some really kick-a$$ concerts:

June 2 (Tues) WVC Trio + 1 Live at Pentas 1 (KLPac).

July 2 - 4 (Fri - Sun) Inner Voices Production Presents - "Let's Go Mamak.. AGAIN!".

July 9 - 10 (Thu - Fri) Barry Cooper Sextet @ Alexis Bistro

..and a whole bunch of my favorite musicians at some of the different venues in Kuala Lumpur and other parts of Malaysia.

Most importantly, I look forward to getting together with my closest friends (of whom most of them are musicians too!) and hang out and make some music together.

Do stay tuned here, or join me on Tweeter, where you can keep track of what I'm doing as well.

So, to promote the first big concert I'm playing..

WVC Trio + 1 @ KLPac Pentas 1.

WVC TRiO +1 will present a full concert in KLPac covering varieties of styles and premiering many brand new original compositions penned by members of the group. Experience this vibrant and original concert on June 2nd 2009 Tuesday 8.30pm, at KL Pac only.

WVC Trio + 1 is

Tay Cher Siang - piano
Adam - drums
Vincent Ong - double bass

and + 1 is Julian Chan on saxophones. ;)

Location link:
http://www.klpac.com/Welcome.asp?c=venuelocation

Call or email for concert passes.

Public RM40, Student RM35.

Contact:
Cher Siang 017-3643202 jazzzzaj@gmail.com

Adam 012-6040216

Vincent 012-3909828 vincentgruvavenue@gmail.com

Julian 012-2732378 / jcsax78@yahoo.com (after 28 May).

Note: KLPac is not selling the tickets directly, so call us at the above details to directly get your tickets!

Hope to see you there!

Spring break

2009-04-11T22:43:00.003+08:00

Wow... talk about not updating my blog for ages.

Well, my apologies for that, really. That's how much stuff I have going right now, really.. until I really could not find the time to write. And that is a good thing, actually, from my standpoint. There's just so much stuff happening, and stuff I have to work on, that I can't spend time to blog. Anyway, it's spring break right now, so we've got a week and a half off from school. But if you're a music student, you'll know right away it's not really going to be a break at all. That's because a music student's (or a musician, really!) life is really music, music, and more music. For us, well, it's a lot more on trying to finish (or start) working on our assignments more than anything else. Practicing... well, that happens pretty much all the time, irregardless. But that's the life. Dig it, or find a new one.

Anyway, I suppose I should update about what's been happening since my last post.. which was Chinese New Year (lol!).

One of the more significant things that has happened to me is the fact that I have experienced some breakthroughs, where my studies are concerned. All the stuff I've been learning for the past year, I am beginning to comprehend much more, than when I first came here (or even after the first year). I'm not sure how that worked, but I do know now that it did, and I'm so happy and thankful for that. Can't say it was an easy, bed-o-roses process though... been through some emotional and mental pitfalls along the way. To say the least, right now it's mostly down to just practicing the stuff, and getting it in my head and in my fingers. Of course, there's still so much stuff left, even after that... but I believe I'm learning to deal with it better now (I hope!). I feel so much more focused than before, and I basically understand what I have to work on for real, this time. I've got so much information that will basically last me a long while to practice.

For other stuff, well... probably one of the only thing(s) worth mentioning is that I did a gig in a real established jazz bar in NYC called 55 Bar late February. It's a small place (really small), but it's been around for a little bit. I think Mike Stern plays there on a fairly regular basis (I haven't seen him play there, though). I played there with a good friend of mine and Chern Hwei's, Michelle Marie, a guitarist. It was scary, as it was probably my first Manhattan gig, at an established jazz joint. Although for the moment, I don't mind being the sideman, first. LOL! I believe we will have another show there sometime late April... yee haa!!

Another interesting thing I managed to do was to watch Phil Woods play at Dizzy's Club Coca-cola at Jazz @ Lincoln Center. For those who don't know, Phil Woods is a legendary saxophone player, who in all our books, is considered up there along with the rest of the jazz legends. Mr. Woods is known by many to be a Charlie Parker "disciple" on the alto sax, and with what he has experienced, he may very well be. To cut the story short, Phil has met AND hung out with Bird in his younger days (and even let Bird play his horn). Of course, Mr.Woods' sound and approach to playing is a cumulative development of studying the various masters (Johnny Hodges, Benny Carter, etc) as well as an extension of his own personality.

Anyway, as for other stuff, well.. there's nothing really much happening, other than me just being in school practicing and working on some of the work, really. NY is too expensive to make it hip and happening for me. My life here (socially, at least) is probably less interesting than back home in Malaysia. Here, I'm just interested to study and work on my sh*t and expose myself to great music, and great musicians.. and make sure I learn my stuff, real good! I'll probably worry about the rest later.

Still miss Malaysian food, though.. the real deal, that is. Still prefer my share of banana leaf, thosai, and even good chinese (vegetarian) food, without busting a giant hole in my small wallet.

I've started running a lot more now, and since I've already registered for the Standard Chartered KL Marathon 2009 for half distance (that's happening at the end of June), I've definitely started to train for it. So I can't wait till Spring clears up well, and good, and I'd get my butt out there running!

I think that's it for now... will try to update more a little later, when I can.

By the way, I'm back in KL from 28th May for summer holidays, and gigs galore! Can't wait...

THOSAI!!!!!

Ciao.

Better late..

2009-01-27T14:42:00.002+08:00

.. than never!

So..

To everyone, Chinese and non-Chinese alike...

新年快樂！！！

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!

Gong Xi Gong Xi!

I hope that this year will be a productive one, despite the predictions and all, in more ways than one. I also hope that above all else, health and family be the top priority on your list.. not just this year, but all the time.. and also the quest for spiritual enlightenment!

This will probably be my second CNY that I won't be home with family and friends, and it's this time I'm really feeling the pinch of not being there. But I feel my heart is closer now to those back home now, than it ever was.

Have a good one everyone!!

Congratulations PRESIDENT OBAMA!

2009-01-21T02:00:00.002+08:00

As I'm writing this, I'm logged into CNN.com watching what was the Inauguration of the 44th President of the USA, President Barack Hussein Obama.

This has been quite a historic moment for the US, as well as the world, as President Obama is the first ever African-American President of the United States. The moments leading to his success in the election was long and hard, but all worth it. Unfortunately I missed the announcement of the presidential election (I was stuck in the 7 train on the way back home). But of course, notice of his success in the election did not fall short to my ears...one of the train supervisors, a black lady, was basically screaming in happiness while making train stop announcements on the PA in the train! But one thing was certain, I felt thankful that I am in the US during this historical moment in world history.

But thanks to CNN.com along with Facebook, a lot of people in the US, as well as all over the world was given the opportunity to watch the Inauguration, so it was quite a blast. At the same time, you've got friends on FB logged in watching the inauguration, and leaving comments on status updates, etc. Quite something I tell ya.. if you missed it.. SOOOO too bad for ya. LOL! By the way, you can check out President Obama's inauguration speech at CNN.com, so do check it out if you missed it. It was really inspiring.

Anyway, on a more serious note, we just have to pray this will bring some change to the US as well as the world, with President Obama on the helm. God knows, they need it! When you learn about some of the problems here in the US, you can't help thinking how difficult it is being here, and trying to survive here. It's not easy. All the points that President Obama mentioned in his speech, problems in key areas in the social level in America, such as poor medical care, welfare, etc, are all real. In New York, it's even more apparent. Unless you have money to afford medical insurance, one cannot afford to get sick here, or else you'd pay a bomb for getting medical treatment. And something as simple as just a little jab for cold could cost you hundreds of dollars!

In many ways, I'm actually pretty grateful about my own country Malaysia, despite whatever is happening now on the political front. It has been relatively peaceful and stable (well, not so much now anyway), but one knows that it would not last for long. But however, I choose to remain practical and optimistic about Malaysia's future, and I pray that the sea of change will be for good!

And lastly,

CONGRATULATIONS, PRESIDENT OBAMA!!!!

US Boycott?

2009-01-07T15:38:00.002+08:00

I just read the news today about Malaysian Muslims boycotting US products to protest the US involvement in the Israel attacks on Gaza.

What's the point?

I mean, I don't disagree with the Malaysian Muslims' point of view on it. But I don't see how boycotting US products will help. For one thing, the rest of the country probably wouldn't follow suit. We're so hooked to all these US-based products in our daily lives.

Boycott Starbucks? Hah.. very unlikely.

Boycotting US products in Malaysia also would not probably make any difference in thought on American soil. Hell, most Americans don't even know where Malaysia is. I've even been asked, "Is Malaysia like a swamp area?". Shows you how ignorant they are. And the thing is, most US made products are locally made, too! Boycott Coca-Cola? Are you guys nuts? Coke in Malaysia is manufactured in Malaysia.. the brand is American.. but their products are made local for locals. So if you're boycotting them, you're only crippling our local industry. Correct me if I'm wrong. Do you think they'd actually import the drink from America?? If so, you won't be paying RM1.50 for a can of Coke (is that the going price now?). Even if you're successful in boycotting a particular US product, how much of that will cripple the business in the US, that comes from Malaysia.

Not much I gather. It'd probably be like an ant bite. Or a mozzie bite.

I think there are ways to get our opinions heard. Boycotting US goods is not one of them. You'd find you might be hurting our local businesses more than sending a message across (which probably won't reach, anyway!).

Get real, people! Look at the bigger picture!

Steamboat & Black Church!

2008-12-28T04:35:00.003+08:00

There's no relationship between the two, in case you were wondering. Just two things I was gonna blog about today.

Steamboat

Well, over here in America they call it hotpot, we at home call it steamboat. But I'll call it steamboat here, because there were some friends on Facebook who thought I had a POT party.. hahah.. that was hilarious. But you know, with that many Malaysians around like what we had on Christmas night, it might actually look as though it was one! LOL!

We had our party on Christmas night, and we invited quite a few friends over, some Japanese, Taiwanese, and of course, Malaysians who are based in NY at the moment. But it turned out that we had SEVEN Malaysians who came by, and it was quite a rowdy one, too! I mean, Chern Hwei and myself are rowdy as it is, but with the others it was like... oh well.. we Malaysians know what it's like when we hang out at the mamak for late nights, right? So we had Eugene Pook who came down from Rochester (that is another story, which I might or might not tell), Chee Shen (a tenor singer studying at Mannes), Wen Onn (a composer studying in NYU), Nicholas Ong (an amazing pianist based here in NY), Adriane Palikat (a drummer from Kota Kinabalu), and the two of us. Hah... all musicians. And it was a riot.. it was like home-styled mamak session! But best thing was, everyone was nuts in their own right, and I think it probably surprised the other non-Malaysian guests. We even had our M'sian styled drink cheer.. the yam seng!

Quite a good night I might add. It was a first time for some of us to have met each other for the first time ever, being in New York. But at least it's comforting to know we have more Malaysian friends here.

Black Church

I played a gig at a black church in Jamaica, Queens, last night for Leon Lacey's Day After Christmas concert. It was a part concert, part worship, kind of thing, so I got to experience first-hand, the African-American church culture. It's something I do want to experience at least once, as it is highly related to what I'm studying here in the first place, ie. Jazz. I mean, those who have read about or studied the historical roots of jazz would know that one of the major influences in the development of jazz as a distinct musical form comes from the African-American church culture.

For one thing, there was ALWAYS singing, and music at the background. Someone would always be playing the organ, or a keyboard (usually with a church organ sound) and accompanying the on-stage speaker or preacher. Then while making a testimony or preaching about something, they would build up the intensity and then would launch into a worship song (which could be either one which everyone knows, or sometimes improvised!), and just keep singing and the whole congregation would sing along, or even shout in response to a call (hence the call-and-response) or a statement. And this would go on for hours and hours, and I was there for about four hours, so it was pretty long. But the music never stops, someone would always be playing. Me and another saxophone player that night would also be playing some lines or just improvising at the back, reacting to the call-and-response of the singing, during the worship session. This was in between the short sets of which we would be playing Leon's tunes.

It was quite an energetic, uplifting, and very interesting experience for me. And I count myself blessed that I got to play and attend and experience one of this kind of church services.

Before I sign off, I'll just say that I'll post some pictures soon (when I get my off my lazy butt to upload them off the camera), so stay tuned.

Happy New Year, y'all!

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-26T04:15:00.002+08:00

My first Christmas away from home. Well, I don't celebrate Christmas as much as most Westerners do anyway, but still, it's always a time where we get to spend it with some company, whether with family or friends. This time Xmas eve was pretty much alone, most of the housemates were out playing Xmas eve shows, mass, etc. I was chilling out watching Buffy episodes online and drinking egg-nog (too bad the non-alcoholic one). But today we're doing a nice dinner session, where hotpot (or steamboat in Malaysia) is the main theme! We're getting some Malaysians and some Japanese and Taiwanese people to come over, and most of them.. no, ALL of them are musicians. So we're gonna have some fun tonight.

And too bad (or good, depends how you look at it), it has stopped snowing. It was pretty sunny today, so it was kinda nice! Snow maybe interesting for the first day or two, after that it can get rather depressing! Hahaha..

Well.. whatever it is..

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!

Let it snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!

2008-12-17T13:48:00.002+08:00

What started out as light rain, became light and then heavy snow. Took some videos while we were outside walking to have lunch.

Let it snoooowwww....!!!

What a f*&king load..

2008-11-25T03:37:00.001+08:00

.. of crap!

http://mediarakyat.net/2008/11/pro-isa-can-anti-isa-cannot/

I'll say it out here loud and proud...

BN SUCKS!!!!

BN SUCKS!!!!

BN GOVERNMENT IS F*&KED UP!!!

NIAMAH &%^#*$(%&%^!!!!!

Long runs and some thoughts..

2008-11-24T02:43:00.004+08:00

I had a post I was working on but then I just stopped and forgot all about it. Wanted to pen some thoughts down, but after looking at it now, it seemed pretty irrelevant to finish it, so I'm just gonna start out a new post. But will pen some new ones if any.

Anyway, I wanted to share some pictures I took during a long run I did about two over weeks ago, my first long run in a long time. I did about almost 10k, out in the fairly cold weather, and I ran from my house at 89th St and 37th Ave all the way down 37th to 111th St, and went over to Corona Park. It's probably the nearest park to my place. If you didn't know Corona Park is basically where Flushing Meadows is, and it's the home to the Tennis US Open which takes place in September every year. The park itself was a nice run, it was full of trees and fields, and there were so many fields that I even saw people playing football (ie. soccer in OUR world), and some of the fields were occupied for actual football matches. There were trophies and stuff. But most of the players there were Latino (no surprise there, eh?). Anyway, I'll let the pictures speak for itself.

USTA Tennis Center

Nice view of Corona Park

Unisphere

Men In Black anyone?

Soccer!

Well, running in Corona Park was simply awesome... beautiful. I wish KL had more of something like that. At least there's still Lake Gardens.

Jazz gig

I did my first paying jazz gig on Friday with a Japanese guitarist, Yujin Amano, at a club called RJ's Bar Lounge and Grill in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. Bay Ridge is at the edge of Brooklyn, just overlooking Verrazano-Narrows Bridge which connects to Staten Island. I got this gig thanks to my buddy Rozhan actually! He was in town for a couple of days with his soon-to-be wife, Rie, and while meeting him up for a hang out, he hooked me up with Yujin. He was looking for a sax player for his gig at RJ's.

The gig turned out pretty nice, actually. It was a small set-up - sax, guitar, electric bass and drums. We played some funk/jazz/smooth jazz kinda stuff (almost similar to my old GJ days - if you know what I'm talking about), but less of the self-gratification, so that was pretty fun for me. We did some Stevie stuff, and even some electric Miles. Best thing was, it felt nice to be playing after so long, and (hopefully) making some music!

That's it for now.. will update later!

An example of Malaysian idiots

2008-10-29T22:30:00.004+08:00

You know, I've seen or read some pretty stupid things about what's going on in my home in Malaysia, but I think this one takes the cake (at least the BIG slice), I could be wrong, but I think it wouldn't get anymore FOOLISH and IDIOTIC than this:

PENANG, 29 Oct 2008: The National Fatwa Council will come out with a ruling related to yoga exercise soon.

The announcement would be made by the council's chairperson, Prof Datuk Dr Abdul Shukor Husin, said Department of Islamic Development Malaysia deputy director-general (operations), Othman Mustapha.
He told reporters this after opening the two-day seminar on Islamic Jurisprudence and Eternal Islamic Thinking at Universiti Sains Malaysia.
Yesterday, lecturer Prof Zakaria Stapa of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia's Islamic Studies Centre advised Muslims who have taken up yoga to stop practising it for fear that it could deviate their beliefs.
- Bernama

Wow.. I really wonder what goes on in these people's head? Do they have one in the first place?

What? You bozos actually stopped using your head and your heart when you're reading the Quran now?

Pitiful. Misled from a very young age to become village idiots.

LET'S GO MAMAK! Recap..

2008-10-05T00:19:00.002+08:00

Hey all,

It's been over 2 months since the "Let's Go Mamak!" show by our new Malaysian ensemble (a stellar crew of musicians and artists, by the way), INNER VOICES.

For some of you, I know you want to hear and see something from it... so... check out the website again. Ken Hor has uploaded some audio and video of the show. More will be forthcoming.

So, click your browsers at "Let's Go Mamak" by Inner Voices.

Feel free to leave some comments and emails. Enjoy!

I'm fine..

2008-09-30T14:51:00.002+08:00

Hmmm.. interesting read, the last post. Even for me.

It was wierd when I was typing it. My mind was in a total state of confusion. I was probably at a mental disarray, if you will. Wierd thing was, I hardly experience something like this.. if at all. Must be one of those rare days, when the planets align against me, causing me to go haywire for no good reason.

I'm fine now, by the way.

Anyway..

It was a fairly productive day today, not music-wise though. Went to school early to practice and prep for lessons, and I only realized that it was a holiday in school. No wonder it was so quiet when I first got there. Antonio wasn't even around. So I got back home early, ran some errands, like send my brother's birthday gift (HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BRO!!!), and bought some supplies. Weather was great. On the way back from the post office at 78th St (I stay in 89th, so that's 11 blocks away), I got 'distracted' and bought a few things that I needed, and I came across a health store that I never got a chance to visit, but I knew was there. It was pretty interesting! They had a lot of interesting organic food, and even vegetarian/vegan food products as well! Couldn't buying a pack of vegan bologne slice and a ham slice, which were on sale, as well as a pack of granola cereals!

When I got back, I even cleaned up my room, for real. I didn't get a chance to thoroughly clean my room since I got back, so this was a good time than not. I rearranged everything that needed to be, cleaned the blinds (I think it hadn't been cleaned for AGES!), and re-packed everything.

Made dinner... a nice sambal vege fish with buttered brocolli and mushroom, fried egg over buttered rice! LOL! You might drool if you saw my dinner! God knows I did. Watched "Incredible Hulk" on my computer, while eating.

Then came the moment I've been waiting for... repairing my Macbook! My DVD SuperDrive and Bluetooth had been out of commission for a few weeks now. The SuperDrive I wrecked from putting a half-sized CD inside, and got it stuck... and the best part... it happened RIGHT BEFORE I came back to New York. The Bluetooth.. well, that has been failing for a little while before I got back here. I initially sent it to a Mac Support store to see if they can fix it. But the prices they charged were RIDICULOUS, and it would take AGES for them to do it. So I took back my Macbook, ordered the parts I needed from this AMAZING website called www.ifixit.com, and I decided to fix it myself, and this for almost HALF the price of sending it for repair.

Today I managed to find the time to fix it.. but man.. it was a pain! Whoever designed the laptops is either a real genius, or a pain in the neck! The screws were SO SMALL, it was really hard to get around it sometimes. But each set of screws were really unique and meant for a specific part of the laptop. After a couple of hours going at it (and almost getting hung up over ONE particular screw which was a tad more stuck), I managed to fix both the bluetooth board as well as replace a new SuperDrive! Now they both work fine! Man.. I could work at a Mac store to do repairs, like this! Ahahaha..

Oh well. Time to go.. will spend the whole day tomorrow practicing..

Later.

Autumn..

2008-09-26T12:56:00.004+08:00

Yes.. it's officially Autumn in New York.

It's getting chilly.. and the presence of rainy weather affirms it.

Just to digress a little, I'll probably write a bit about these few weeks first. My apologies for not being diligent enough to write. Things have been fairly busy since I got back, with school starting and all. And I guess, I just didn't have the energy to write about it too.

First week of my return is pretty much as what I expected. Errands to run to get back into the groove of things - school, household, and everything else. Mentally I finally settled in after the first week. I still miss home and my life there. Some days more than others. But I guess it's settled in much more by now. One thing is for sure is that some things had to change from my first six months here. Break some old habits, and make new ones, where school is concerned. Put simply, just develop routines so that I have to work a little harder for school.

I haven't caught much jazz shows in NY that much yet, as I had spent quite a bit of money the past few weeks, so I'll save up for next month. Among other things, Kenny Garrett will be playing at the Iridium with his new quartet, and new CD, and I wanna go check it out. Oh, my good friend, and (what I would surmise as) my "past life brother" David Muehsam came to town for a couple of weeks to visit his mom. We got to hung out a bit, and it was a bit refreshing in many ways for me. We talked a lot about a variety of things - horns, music, life, politics, food, music, horns, life, food - and of course, not just verbally, too. Musical conversations were not excluded too!

I did a gig with Michelle Marie's band not too long ago. She organized a jazz fest at the Hudson River Cafe, and had three acts - percussionist Felle Vega, her trio (with me and Chern Hwei as guests), and Antonio Sanchez Trio (with bassist Scott Colley and saxophonist Steve Wilson)!! I played on three of her songs, and it was pretty scary, but exhilirating, too! I got to play in front of these great musicians! I hope I didn't screw up too badly. Antonio Sanchez is a mofo on da drums!!

Anyway.. back to Autumn..

Maybe it's one of "those days" kinda thing, but I woke up feeling crappy. And it's probably the second time it's happened this week. Then couple it with a mild headache. One thing led to another, I ended up feeling rather flustered and confused about everything at the end of the day. CH says I should stop watching Naruto online, as it could mess with my head. He may be right, or am I just using it as a form of 'escapism' from my life here? Could it be all that blowing from practicing causing lack of oxygen going into my brain? I don't know. I'm confused and frustrated about something, and I don't know what it is. I'm still trying to figure it out.

I don't know anything anymore. And it's really getting to me. I always thought I knew what I wanted. Maybe I still do.. but it gets a little more cloudy as the days go by. It's really odd. Before I came here for the first time, it was something I was really clear about (that's why I'm here in the first place), and there was probably only one aspect of my life that I was lacking. But now, its totally reversed. What I lacked when I was back in home, I have now.. and what I thought I was sure of, I'm not anymore. And when I think of the bigger picture, I get even more clouded. Doubts arise. It's really getting to me. I'm praying for some guidance.

Maybe it's just the season shift... I heard that the change in season affects people in different ways..

... then again, I don't know.

Summer..

2008-09-05T08:03:00.001+08:00

.. is over.

Wow.. I can't believe 2 1/2 months passed by in a blink of an eye!

First, I'd like to apologize to my readers about lack of personal updates where my activities are concerned. If you didn't know by now, I've been back in Malaysia since middle of June, and I've been SOOOO busy with work that I didn't really have the time to update the blog. How busy, you ask? Well, let's put it this way, the next day after I got back, I already had a gig lined up! That was how busy I was. I was virtually working non-stop since I got back here in KL.

I'm now back in NY, I just got in about 10 hours ago, and I haven't slept yet. So I guess this is a good time than never to update my blog. Anyway, this time I'll be here for the whole year before I come back to Malaysia for summer holidays again. So I won't be seeing all of you for the whole year *sob sob*.

Anyway, I'm just probably gonna write a little bit of what I've been doing the past 2.5 months here in Malaysia.

Gigs! Gigs! Gigs!

Yeah, that's what I've been doing the most, really! The following day after I got back to KL (18/6), I was playing for Junji's gig at Groove Junction (19/6), and the next day with UK jazz singer Peter Grant (20/6). They decided to rope me in for the rest of the show, so the following weekend after I got back I was playing at Alexis with Peter Grant, from Thursday through Saturday (24-26/6).

The first weekend of July I was at Ipoh for a video shoot for Tourism Malaysia (I still haven't got paid yet, those bastards!), and then the weekend with my band Boplicity at Bangkok Jazz (4-5/7). That was a real fun gig, as I haven't played with the band for so long, and I was itching to play!! The second night even had Malaysian drum legend Lewis Pragasam sitting in with us for a fast blistering bebop tune!

Race?

I totally forgot I got KT to register the both of us for the Siemens Run race! So with only 3 hours of sleep after the heart-burning Bangkok Jazz performance with my band, we both went for the Siemens Run (which was about 8.8km and not 10), and I clocked about 1:06, which I thought wasn't bad, even with no training. I managed to maintain a steady running pace all the way, and even sprinted to the end!

Penang? Crazy!

Oh yeah, right after the race, I also headed up to Penang (with Eddie and now-wife, Sharon) to do a workshop with the Areca cats. Talk about crazy... two nights of heavy gigs, race the next day, and then up to Penang for a jam session and workshop! The jam session was pretty nice, it was at G-Spot, at G Hotel, Gurney Drive. There was LOADS of people.. something we totally didn't expect of a jazz jam session! Good job Areca fellas. The sax workshop itself was small, but pretty cool, although I'm not sure if I confused anymore people or not! Ahah..

More gigs.

Got home to KL on Tuesday, and played on the weekend with Daniel Foong's band Giant Timeline at Groove Junction (10/7) and then Eric Li's Jazz Latino at Alexis Bistro (11-12/7).

JB Arts Festival, Mamak, and more Boplicity!

The following week was really crazy, as preparations for the David Gomes Sextet to play at the Johor Bahru Arts Festival (17/7) was on the way. At the same time, I was also busy trying to handle a multiple amount of things with the "Let's Go Mamak!" show, that was to be held at KLPac beginning of August. The JB Jazz Festival was a blast.. and was really tiring.. everyone played well and played hard! The band had David Gomes on piano and vocals, me (alto sax), Eddie (trumpet), Vincent (double bass), Martin (drums), and Benjamin on tenor sax.

We rushed back the following day for a Boplicity club date at Alexis Bistro (18-19/7). It went well, too, although everyone was almost burned out, so although we still gave our all, our energy level just wasn't enough to make it really powerful.

Mamak and Sheila Majid, and a Sedaya workshop.

The following week, preparations for the Mamak show was definitely on its more final and complex stages. It wasn't as organized than I would've liked it to be, so it led to a lot of complicated scheduling. At the same time, we had intense three-day rehearsals for the Sheila Majid concert in Kuantan on that weekend (26/7). Just before we left for Kuantan, I even managed to squeeze in a band workshop at Sedaya College with Chern Hwei. It was fun to see them kids playing and doing their thing with a little more enthusiasm than I remembered.

The Sheila concert itself was fun, although due to lack of promo from the promoters had less people in the audience than it should. But the band was tight, and we were just kickin' ass on stage! Woohoo.. I felt really lucky that at least I had once chance to perform with Sheila!

Also got to know a new friend, and amazing singer, Winnie from 2V1G.. a new group that just released an album. Check them out at 2v1G.

Let's Go Mamak!

This was the final week for preparations for the Mamak show at Pentas 2, KLPac. Everything was quite a mess, to be honest, and I still wasn't even sure if the show will turn out good, so I was worried as hell! But I had to make sure that it turned out as well as it could, despite the harrowing circumstances. But in the end, thanks to the amazing musicians that played for the show (and probably some divine intervention as well), the show turned out really well and everything somehow came together. Opening night had almost full occupancy, and the following two nights was totally full house (KLPac had to refuse a few people on the Sunday night show!). Thank God!

We had some pretty good reviews from people who came to the show, they all had a good time, and some were even emotionally touched by the message that the show intended to spread.

James Flynn @ Alexis

After the Mamak show, I managed to wind down a short bit, and squeezed in some hard practice days. The second weekend of August, I did a show with Aussie singer James Flynn with the Michael Veerapen Quartet at Alexis.

Phuket!!!

The week after the James Flynn show, I had my folks arranged a nice short holiday in Phuket. All I did was just chill out good.. get some sun, swim in the pool, and just simply relax! Too bad it was only for three nights (and it went by fast too!). More would've been nice. But it was a well-needed relaxing trip. My ideal vacation - beach, sun, relax.

David Gomes @ Bangkok Jazz

The night I got back from Phuket, I was at Bangkok Jazz playing my last gig (for a long time) with jazz pianist-vocalist great, David Gomes at Bangkok Jazz. Backing David was myself on sax, Daniel Foong on bass, and Jon Jacobs on drums. It was a kick-ass night, as well, and playing with David has always been a fun one, where you can really stretch out and he's always behind ya. Now that he'll be in Bangkok for the next four months, looks like KL will have to do without David for a little while, and it's their loss, for most part. That's less one Malaysian jazz great to listen too.

WV Trio @ No Black Tie

Another highlight of my summer break gigs, is playing with this awesome trio, consisting of Tay Cher Siang (piano), Adam Osmianski (drums) and Jon Cavendish (bass), or else known as the WV Trio (the three of them studied and played together in West Virginia University). They did a fair number of Brazilian music, with such kick-butt grooves, it was simply just intoxicating. They played a few interesting rearrangements, such as The Bad Plus' rearrangement of Tears For Fears' Everybody Wants To Rule The World. I played with them for the next two Tuesdays at No Black Tie and it was a real kick ass experience as well, having to sight read-and-transpose their music. Even so, it was one hell of a rhythm section!! The three of them lock so tight, it feels like like you're floating on air. Hope I'll get a chance to play with them again!

Good time with them juniors..

The second-last weekend of August saw me performing with my musical.. juniors.. at Bangkok Jazz, ie. Giant Timeline, led by Daniel Foong. The rest of the band were Cheah Wei Li (keys), Faz Aznam (guitars) and Steve Naris (drums). I actually got them to play Eric Marienthal's Easy Street, a tune I've been hearing for 10 years but never got a chance to play till now. And these guys did a good job, although the crowd for most part were a little less enthusiastic. But I had fun playing with them, and they're on the way to kick some major butt in the music scene.

Bangkok..

Hmmm.. Bangkok.. now that was a good, albeit short trip. ;) Just found it interesting that something could develop under such circumstances, and I welcome it.

Final gig for the summer...

... was at Laundry Bar with Eddie's band Urban Tribes, for the Merdeka Eve party. Ina Fabergas sung with us, and we had THREE subs in the band, namely me on sax, Hiro on bass, and Arthur on drums. Eddie and Justin were the only original cats! The band was kickin', and the music was funkin' all night... but too bad the venue sucked, and so did the crowd. Stupid sound enginee..no, technician. But the band had fun playing!

Birthday cum farewell...

This time celebrations were small, just a nice dinner with my folks and relatives. My bro got me a new phone!! After that, I had a small farewell hang out with me music buddies in Bangsar (if you're a FB-er you could see some pics there). One thing I'll miss while being here is the closeness and camaraderie with your best mates who also happen to be your colleagues.

Last but not least..

Love.

I had a great summer.. wish it didn't end that quickly. But alas, time does fly when you have lots of fun. Back to the reality that is NYC! Gonna miss all of you cats and dear friends... so please, make sure you buzz me on MSN, Yahoo, and also Skype! At least got some online company, during the times when I get real bored here.

Till the next time.. more New York stories.

Later.

PS: Miss ya SCSY..

KLPac & Inner Voices: LET'S GO MAMAK! (1-3 Aug)

2008-07-23T12:43:00.009+08:00

I got it from my Mamak!

What traditionally started out as a simple road side stall has evolved into an important Malaysian social institution! Mamak stalls are a true multi-racial melting pot, a place where everybody meets for a snack or a drink with friends, business clients, breakfast or just watching football at night!

LET'S GO MAMAK!

aims to serve you up a slice of that Malaysiana through music!

A showcase of original compositions and arrangements by Ken Hor - performed by an eclectic group of local musicians such as New-York based saxophonist Julian Chan and violinist Fung Chern Hwei, BOH Cameronian recipient Prakash Kandasamy on tabla, Jimmy Ch'ng from Hands Percussion Team, sought-after jazz pianist Tay Cher Siang, the renown percussionist Kamrulbahri Hussin, and many many more!

1 - 3 August @ 8.30pm

Pentas 2, KLPac

(Click here for location map & public transport options)

RM30 / RM20 (students, sr. citizens & the disabled)

Featuring thirteen of the finest and most culturally diverse musical talents from Malaysia, expect an evening of truly Malaysian music!

Call our Box Office for tickets now!

KLPac 03-4047 9000

The Actors Studio @ BSC 03-2094 9400

www.klpac.com | innervoicesband.blogspot.com

Gig update: Alexis Bistro - 18 and 19 July

2008-07-14T20:29:00.000+08:00

Hey everyone,

My sincerest apologies for not publicizing our gig at Bangkok Jazz recently, I've been swamped with work since I got back from New York... and yes, I'm back from New York for the summer holidays.

We did a kick-butt gig at Bangkok Jazz two weekends ago. Daniel Foong replaced Vincent for one set on Friday night, and kicked butt as well, he held his own real good. The second night was also a killer night, with Lewis Pragasam sitting in on one tune on the second set, as we did a Kenny Barron tune called Voyage. We did a couple of new tunes in addition to our existing hardbop repertoire, and we had a ball doing it too.

Anyway, here's a plug for our upcoming show:

BOPLICITY Live! @ Alexis Bistro and Wine Bar
Date: 18 and 19 July 2008 (Fri and Sat)
Time: 10.30pm onwards
Admission: Free (but call to reserve seats so you don't have to stand!)
Venue: Alexis Bistro and Wine Bar, Great Eastern Mall, Jalan Ampang KL

Hope to see you there!

SUPPORT LIVE JAZZ!

Gig updates: Peter Grant

2008-06-27T03:11:00.004+08:00

If you didn't check already, I've got a couple of gigs lined up over the next few weeks. Here's a plug for the one I'm playing this weekend with da Horny Horns:

PETER GRANT
LIVE @ ALEXIS BISTRO & WINE BAR

“Barely out of his teens, he has proven he can hold the stage at Ronnie Scott’s …" Clive Davis at Ronnie Scott’s

"... and whose stage act bears an uncanny resemblance to Harry Connick Jr’s.” The Sunday Times, UK.

Peter Grant, who was recently tipped by The Times UK as a star of 2008, is a young British talent whose vocal style has been compared with the likes of crooners among others, Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett while his music has the energy and jazz feel of that of Jamie Cullum.

His first album New Vintage was released in April 2006 when he was just 18 years old and entered at No. 8 in the British Album Charts, largely thanks to his chat show appearances with Michael Parkinson, Davina McCall and GMTV, where he made his TV debut.

There are not many young lads like Peter Grant and his debut album is literally astounding. Peter has used that voice to give an ultra cool lounge makeover to songs like Barry White’s “My First, My Last, My Everything” and the Scott Walker’s “Joanna” with under-appreciated classics like “On Days Like These” from The Italian Job and “The Fool on the Hill” slipped in between.

“I love these songs,” says Peter, who also loves listening to singer songwriters to soul through to hip-hop and free jazz. “No one ever told me to listen to this kind of music. It’s just what I listened to. I also write my own songs. I don’t want to be a pop star, I want to be a singer of great songs.”

His second album Traditional was released on 17 September 2007. Promotion of his 2nd UK album saw Peter perform on GMTV, This Morning and The Alan Titchmarsh Show all on ITV1.

Following that release, Peter went on to sell out 5 performances at Ronnie Scott's in October and December 2007.

Book now to experience Peter Grant “Live in KL” exclusively at Alexis Bistro.

Cover charge Rm35. Dress code applies.
Thurs 19 & 26 June Showtime 9pm
Fri & Sat 20, 21, 27 & 28 June Showtime 10.30pm

For more information, please call 4260-2288
or email info@alexis.com.my

Alexis Bistro Ampang
Great Eastern Mall
303 Jalan Ampang
Kuala Lumpur

Blurb courtesy of Alexis Bistro Ampang.

I'M HOME!!!

2008-06-20T02:49:00.002+08:00

Taxi from Jackson Heights home.

JFK.

17 hours on da plane.

Watched 3 movies - Spiderwick, 10000 BC, Warlords, and loads of jazz music pipe-in. Naps.

Bangkok. Sleepy.

Waited almost 4 hours for next flight.

Touchdown KLIA.

Parents. Hugs hugs, kiss kiss.

Thosai with family and close buddy!!

Home.. dogs..

Nice good shower!

No dry toilets.

Half-naked.

Comfy bed.

Facebook.

Zzzzz....

Home Sweet Home!

I'm leaving.. on a jetplane..

2008-06-18T13:12:00.002+08:00

.. back to KL.. in less than 12 hours!

Woohoo.. it's gonna be a crazy few weeks for me! Gonna be fun and tiring too.. haha...

SEE YOU ALL BACK HOME SOON!!

I'm comin' home..

2008-06-16T00:23:00.002+08:00

.. for holidays.. that is! Not for good... yet.

Yeah, I'll be back in Malaysia for the 2 1/2 months summer holiday. And while I'm back I gotta play mah a$$ off in and around town. And hopefully, squeeze in a nice real vacation while I'm at it too.

Then you'd be thinking.. "..this kid ain't gone that long. So fast come back ah?". Ah well.. what to do? Things turned out that way.. so that's that... too lazy to explain. But of course, after I come back to the US after the summer hols, then I'll really be away for the whole year.. missing Chinese New Year and all.

Anyway, I won't miss the opportunity to play while I'm back home.. so I've posted a couple of gigs on my calendar on the sidebar. So do check it out. And hope to see you at some of the gigs, and don't forget to say hi.

Later!!

Damn good article..

2008-06-06T21:44:00.003+08:00

.. titled UMNO TALENT POOL AND THINK TANKS.

Courtesy of Malaysia Today.

The tragedy of Umno, it would seem, has been the lack of intellectuals from the beginning, observes our special correspondent. Umno has never been known to engage in the battle of the mind to solve political, social and economic problems. Umno’s solutions to national problems have always been perceived to be cosmetic.
ALIRAN

When people in advanced countries talk about talent pools and think tanks, they refer to the collective brainpower of intellectuals with a great capacity to think rationally and analytically and find creative and imaginative solutions to problems. They demonstrate pure intellect at work, uncoloured by bias and prejudices.

If one places the so-called Umno talent pools and think tanks beside them, some may conclude that they are literally empty! It is almost three months since 8 March and Umno is clueless about what hit them. Their analysis is that Umno has not lost Malay support, that the Chinese deserted the MCA and Gerakan, and Indians withdrew their support for the MIC and PPP. They claim that Umno had no part in the loss of non-Malay support for BN. This is apparently the analysis of Umno’s clueless clods, “headless chicken running around” (to borrow Raja Petra’s description) who help the party to live in a state of denial.

The tragedy of Umno, it would seem, has been the lack of intellectuals from the beginning. Tunku could not seriously be considered one though he had other admirable qualities. He was a man of honesty and integrity and a true nationalist and patriot. Razak and Hussein Onn could be a bit so but they were caught up in the Umno web of racism and religious bigotry. Therefore, Umno has never been known to engage in the battle of the mind to solve political, social and economic problems. Umno’s solutions to national problems have always been perceived to be cosmetic.

If we examine past and present living Umno leaders it would reveal their apparent lack of intellect. Whatever IQ Dr M has, it would not permit what is perceived to be his warped mind to rise to be a true Malaysian and a genuine patriot. He had this fallacious belief that only elected people could speak on behalf of the rakyat and no one else. So he successfully destroyed every independent institution – the judiciary, the ACA, the Election Commission, the Registrar of Societies, the trade unions and so on.

His brain could never grasp the difference between party and government. The civil service, the police and other coercive apparatus of the state, RTM, the print media and government agencies became tools of the government. To him, the Constitution was a mere piece of paper to be shredded at his autocratic will. He armed himself with draconian laws like the ISA,the OSA, the UUCA, the Printing Presses and Publications Act and a whole host of repressive laws, not subject to judicial review.

The 1983 Constitutional amendments took away the powers of the Agong and his brother rulers. The 1988 Constitutional amendment successfully destroyed the secular democratic nature of the 1957 Constitution.

Under him corruption galloped while nepotism, cronyism, and bootlickers galore flourished. He was the monarch of all he surveyed and few dared to question his autocratic rule and consequent abuse of power. A grateful nation, however, bestowed a Tunship on him for his meritorious service!

His vindictive and revengeful nature has come into full play. He wants to get Abdullah to step down from the helm of Umno, a party, which despite his mixed origin, gave him and his children power, wealth and popularity. He laid the foundation for the tsunami. I have no doubt that had he been PM on 8 March, he would have lost the Federal Government to the Pakatan Rakyat.

A brief resume of some of the current Umno cabinet members will bring into question their quality:

Abdullah Badawi – made so many glorious promises but his performance has been dismal. Only someone with precious little intelligence will screw up the huge mandate the rakyat gave him at the 2004 polls. His choice of cabinet ministers shows lack of IQ and wisdom.

Najib – contributed substantially to the tsunami. He often speaks with a forked tongue and his racist and bigoted talk about Ketuanan Melayu no longer sells. Do not link him to any Mongolian woman lest you should face sedition charges. When will Umno accept the fact that he is a liability?

Keris-kisser Hishammuddin - did not possess the IQ to know how badly his keris-kissing and threatening words would affect the non-Malays and non-Malays. Another clear liability.

Nazri – the Minister of Law in the last government, is a disgrace. He did not know that there was no Witness Protection Act! Only a fool like him would say that the separation of powers among the judiciary, legislature and executive is a luxury that Malaysia cannot afford. When the Bar Council talked about the crisis in the judiciary, his response, “What crisis?” When the PM appointed the Royal Commission to investigate the Lingam Video Clip, it was a slap on his face. His statement that Singapore is not a country was laughable. A non-country got the island, we got the rocks, eh!

Tengku Adnan – implicated seriously in the Lingam scandal, is in the Cabinet. The Royal Commission did not buy his stupid answers because they were obviously convinced he was lying. He does not have the IQ or decency to quit the Cabinet until he is cleared.

Tan Sri Muhammad – perceived by some as allegedly corrupt, immoral and a currency smuggler brought into the Cabinet through the back-door. Abdullah Badawi’s choice of him is mind-boggling.

Rais Yatim – his PhD thesis was a severe attack on the ISA; but when he was recycled into the Cabinet by Dr M, he supported the ISA fully. He claimed that his thesis was merely an academic exercise. So much for the man’s principles, honesty and integrity.

Azalina – despite the mess she made of Brickendonbury and CYC, was appointed into the Cabinet.

In other countries people recycle garbage, but in Malaysia, Umno recycles political garbage – people seen as discredited, discarded and disgraced politicians. Like Dr M, Abdullah Badawi knows full well such recycled politicians will forever be grateful boot-lickers. People like Tan Sri Muhammad and Rais Yatim are two classic examples.

Outside the Cabinet, there are outstanding examples whose lack of brainpower contributed to the tsunami.

Khairy – proves quite often that he is an `ox’-head graduate. His influence-peddling severely damaged the BN and his father-in-law. His political stupidity exposed the BN to insult and ridicule in Parliament. It is widely believed that he provided the Minister with the supplementary questions which further revealed his lack of political maturity.

Bung Mokhtar – Despite the appeal from the women’s groups not to select sexist MPs to be candidates for the election, Abdullah Badawi chose him. He comes across as someone surely bocor in the head.

Tengku Razaleigh – a discarded politician is trying to resurrect himself and is now co-operating with his once arch enemy. Remember, Dr M and Rahmat effectively used RTM to destroy his credibility by flashing every few seconds an image of him wearing a Kadazan head gear with a supposedly Christian cross and dancing with Kadazan girls? Dr M had donned the same head gear earlier and danced gleefully with Kadazan damsels! How could Razaleigh now work with him?!

Toyo – questions regarding his alleged corruption and abuse of power are legendary. How much IQ and judgement must he possess to announce that he will ensure ‘zero’ opposition in Selangor. Now a hero has become zero!

Mukhriz – ably supporting his father to undermind Abdullah Badawi. He aspires to be PM one day. Any takers for another 22 years of Mahathirism?

Rahim Tamby Chik – infamous for his alleged statutory rape. Now he is offering himself as a Umno Vice-Presidential candidate. Given his wealth, influence and the fact that Umno politics is essentially money politics, there is a possibility of his becoming PM.

Ali Rustam – his stupidity in saying that Umno does not need the support of the non-Malays to govern the country contributed to the tsunami.
Ghani - superior leader of a “superior race”, has ruined the Johor environment and turned a motorway into a waterway. Now, he has orchestrated his Umnoputra cronies to say that it was a mistake to have given citizenship to the Chinese and Indians.

Today and tomorrow (Friday), Umno Supreme Council members are on a retreat – what an apt labelling of their meeting. Umno is so badly damaged it is reeling and retreating. It is almost three months since 8 March and Umno is clueless about what hit them. Thus far, because their analysis is so horribly wrong, their solution is marshalling Malay support and frightening Malays into believing that non-Malays are taking over Tanah Melayu and that the Malays have lost political power – a downright lie as there are more Malays in this Parliament than the last one! There is no end to Umno talk about Malay polity and Ketuanan Melayu. Umno claims that non-Malays are questioning Malay rights and privileges and also insulting race, religion and the Malay rulers. The mini brains of the Umno leadership can only think of these as solutions to their declining political power!

An ex-Umno Minister of Education, an ex-Vice-Chancellor of USM, was a racist and implemented fully Islamo-fascist policies. Out of about 24 schools during his tenure, there was not a single non-Malay as Dean or Deputy Dean. A severe brain drain ensued and it was rumoured that promotion of his cronies was done on the golf course! Though USM stands at well past the 300 mark in world university rankings, he praised himself for taking the university to great heights. He further said that he earned praise and congratulations worldwide in making USM a centre for R&D. Yet the same USM did not want to participate in the Hamburg Exhibition at which the world’s best universities were represented. USM’s sideboards are filled with medals and trophies from Geneva! Yet, he said (in self-praise), “But I cannot find my failure here. It would be interesting if anybody can give me one and why it is the greatest failure for me.” This about sums up Umno’s blindness to reality. The retreat will at best be a sandiwara, at worst a goon show!

What awful truth it is.

Sucks.

New York..

2008-05-24T11:07:00.009+08:00

School's out!

Yeah.. can't believe how time really flies (oh the cliche!)!! Anyway, just wanted to write a little bit about New York and share some photos I took fairly recently.

I've been here for about just over 4 months now.. not that long a time to get really acquainted to life in NYC. My experiences here have been brief, and I know that there'll be more interesting things in the future. After all, I will be here for the whole year once I return from the summer holidays. Oh if you didn't know already, I'll be back in Malaysia for the summer holidays, from mid-June to the first week of September. I've already got some gigs lined up back home.. so I can't wait to be playing with me mates again!

Anyway, just a little sum-up of likes and dislikes of the different facets of NYC. Of course, the list would be rather flexible.. it's probably how I'm feeling about it at the moment. Things change, right?

Here's the short list (in no particular order):

Likes:

- *Update* Ah-hem.. my good buddy and fellow cheebye Malaysian mate, Chern Hwei (happy now, b*tch?) of which he helped me a lot when I got here!
- MUSIC!!! Great music scene, especially the jazz scene. Always something happening every single day.
- Nice weather during the spring.. cool, sunny, etc. My mom would like it.
- Nice food (when there are some)
- Great running spots. It's so convenient to run anywhere here!
- Friendly people... for most part.
- Netflix... although I wish I had more time to watch them DVDs
- Fast internet connection (DIE, STREAMYX, DIE!!)
- Beautiful scenery, in the city, out of the city.
- My collegemates
- Friendly musicians that I get to meet.
- Subway system. Very convenient to get around, for most time (when there is no construction happening, that is). And it's 24 hours.
- Free food everytime some events happen in the music building, like some major concerts, etc.
- fellow Malaysian buddies that are here.. not a lot but still are.

Dislikes:

- expensive. Everything.
- 7 train
- dirty americans. They just throw stuff around on the street with no civil regard. Expects trash workers to collect it, which they will.
- dumb americans... you can see a lot of it every day. And too many things to rant here! LOL!
- "Bathroom/Washroom for clients/customers only". Which means, if you are out on the street and you gotta piss/shit real bad, you can't go in to any store with a toilet unless you buy something.
- Wastage. Americans love to waste stuff.. because of their health regulations. It's also odd that these are the very same people who will churn out "Save the environment" campaigns. From food to plastic bags.
- Sink and tap designs. Whoever designed them should be shot.
- Subway system, when something is under construction. Service gets interrupted.. BAD!
- "CB" staying next to me.

There are more stuff on both ends. But this is what I'll write about for the meantime. Meanwhile, here are some pics I've taken with my trusty ol' Sony Ericsson K610i.

From top to bottom:
1) Artwork @ Museum of Modern Art (MOMA). Andy Warhol
2) Some cool heritage houses at New Paltz, NY
3) Signs of springtime. Taken at 34th Ave, Jackson Heights, just a few blocks from my house.
4) My crib in NY
5) The legendary Jimmy Heath and his big band, The Queens Jazz Orchestra at Flushing Town Hall. It was the inauguration of that big band.
6) Chelsea Market - interesting little place.
7) Bleecker St., West Village
8) More Bleecker St.
9) The infamous John's Pizzeria on Bleecker St.
10) Bleecker St.. photo taken at 8pm!

For more photos, check out my Flickr side (click the Flickr link on the sidebar).

Till then.. have fun!

Legends!!

2008-05-19T13:58:00.003+08:00

Sorry I haven't been able to update my blog a little more. It's a rather busy last two weeks for me... this week will be the last week of school, but I'm just so caught up with school work, that it's really taking a lot of time. Unlike my undergraduate accounting days, I'm actually having a little more difficulty with my music work in school. For one thing, in accounting, most of the guidelines are laid out, so the solutions to problems posed are quite similar. But in music, it's a whole different open ball game.. everyone's "solution", or rather results vary from person to person.

Anyway, I'm currently working on a big band arrangement of On Green Dolphin St. Of course, it's an academic chart, not a real working big band chart. Even so, I am finding great difficulty in finishing it. I don't know why, I seem to have great trouble finding ideas and putting it down on paper. I suppose I also don't have that much exposure to big band music, and I have not really dealt much with big band arrangements and all. Anyway, I'll let you know how it goes.. this week is the last week to finish it, and have it played this Thursday. Wish me luck...

On a brighter note..

Last weekend was literally legendary for me... and I'm not quoting Neil Patrick Harris' character on "How I Met Your Mother" TV show.

I'll let these two things sum it up:

JIMMY HEATH!

ROY HAYNES!

Last Friday was the inaugural concert of the Queens Jazz Orchestra (QJO) at Flushing Town Hall. The QJO was led by the legendary Mr. Jimmy Heath. Mr. Heath was even commissioned to write a new piece for the Orchestra, which they played, among other tunes, ranging from his own compositions and arrangements as well as some other older big band tunes ala Basie, etc. Among the members of the orchestra included both my school professors Mike Mossman and Antonio Hart, of which they played killer solos, too!

If anything that can be said about the show.. is that the band oozed out jazz tradition down to its very core!! The audience was virtually transported back to the glory days of the jazz big band.. from Basie to Ellington and more... and with Mr. Heath at the helm, there's no doubt that the sound from the band comes directly from the source!! Truly inspiring.

Not only that, the great Roy Haynes was also present at the show. If you didn't know about Roy Haynes.. think Charlie Parker and John Coltrane.. because he played and recorded with them.. a walking legend in his own right!

After the concert, we went to look for our professors, spoke to them a bit, and we got to take pictures we both Mr. Heath and Mr. Haynes!!! Antonio introduced us (the QC students) to the both of them..and as he told Mr. Haynes what instruments we played, he said (referring to the alto sax players in the group), "Alto sax players, huh?? These cats know I played with (Charlie Parker) Bird???". Oh man....what a night! Mr. Heath also spoke to us, and gave us some great inspiring advice... man... truly privileged are we! As my good buddy Eugene told me, "Looks like you made the right choice going to QC". Damn right I did.. and this is definitely a blessing from above!

Anyway, I'll try to post some stuff once I get some time to do so. I'm waiting for the professional photo pictures of the QC jazz Masters students with the real MASTERS of Jazz!! I'll post it up here once I get them!

Woohoo...

Later.

Oh by the way..

2008-05-12T01:21:00.003+08:00

Mom..

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

I love you.

PS: This goes to my OTHER Mamas, too!! You know who you are..;)

Some inspiration..

2008-05-09T11:06:00.004+08:00

I just got back from school, and played my friend, Glauco's graduation recital. He writes some really interesting music and big band arrangements too. A couple of songs were the quintet setup. So with one of those tunes, I really got to blow and play.. something I haven't really done for a while since I got here.

Did I tell you how much I miss playing?

Anyway, got some inspiration and affirmation today about myself, musically, when my head prof gave me a little thumbs up, on it. Needless to say, being in NYC, with the immense amount of fantastic players here, notwithstanding rhetorics, there were days that I really feel I suck real bad.. like I don't know if I'll ever be that good. So that affirmation at least still tells me, I may still have something inside of me... just need to hang in there, as a lot of people back home have told me. Not a pat on my own back, I just hope I still have some in me! Ahaha..

But I'm quite thankful, that I got to come here to QC, my mates have been nothing short of encouraging, a lot of healthy competition. I mean, our jazz program is really small, but most of the cats in the program don't have airs around them. If it's big, I don't think we can get that kind of camaraderie between us. Actually, I took some of them out for Malaysian food at Flushing after ensemble class.. I think they loved it... which is cool! Even my piano workshop professor, David Berkman joined us for dinner, and he's definitely a super-cool cat to hang out with! Will go and see him play with Marty Ehrlich this weekend.. Marty is a crazy cat. I'm waiting for a chance to see him and his band play. I haven't got much of his stuff, yet, but I've heard some, and it'll be interesting music too.. not your typical jazz kinda cat.

Okay.. enough wasting time on blogging.. gonna try to do and finish my arranging homework as much as I can!

Later peepz.

IRON MAN!

2008-05-07T12:49:00.003+08:00

Just came back from watching that movie at a Forest Hills cinema with Chern Hwei and Nicholas. That movie rocks, man!!

It's probably one of the well made Marvel Comics movie adaptation so far. I wished they did Ghost Rider similar justice, as well.

Robert Downey Jr, man.. that guy is awesome. Definitely adding him as one of my more favorite actors.. even for a comic adaptation. He really played Tony Stark to the core! But what is good is that the directors and screenwriters stuck as much as possible to the original Iron Man backstories, as in the origins, etc.. well for most part anyway.

And the armor.. OH MAN! The people in the visual effects department really did good on this one. I mean, the armor depictions in the comics is pretty nasty already, but to see them really identify it in the big screen?? Wow! Amazing, man! This is definitely one comic book movie you don't want to miss.

It's the summer season... and more comic book adaptations are coming out.. The Dark Knight, Hellboy, Watchmen, The Incredible Hulk.. watch out kids!!

Gonna watch Iron Man again, when I get home to Malaysia!!!

Boston

2008-04-27T09:12:00.003+08:00

Greetings from Boston, MA.
I'm right now in a hallway in the infamous Berklee College of Music, typing this post on a public computer.

Me and Chern Hwei came over to Boston on Thursday, and we're bunking at one of Chern Hwei's string quartet members' place. It's almost the end of spring break for me, so I decided to tag along with CH to come over here to just chill out for a couple of days. CH's got some stuff happening with his string quartet, so while he's doing that, I'm here in the college practicing a little bit in one of the unlocked practice rooms.

Boston is a pretty interesting place. My first impression is that it is less crammed unlike New York. There's just more 'space' everywhere, and buildings are spaced out much more. It's like half a city and half a town. Not as intense like NY. It also gave me an impression that this town is more, 'classy' than NY, where the surroundings are much more pleasant, and well taken care of. Oh yeah, the running community here is large, very obvious. You can't miss the sight of runners everywhere, and every five minutes you'd see one or several passing by. Boston is so beautiful and well-structured that it's no wonder that Boston Marathon is such a successful, popular race. I'm gonna try to see if I can at least do one run tomorrow morning with a friend, a Singaporean drummer who's studying in Berklee.

Berklee itself is an interesting place. There are just SO MANY students here. It's interesting to just walk around the place checking out cats practicing in their practice rooms or playing in an ensemble room. There's always something happening here, or someone practicing/playing, even on weekends. I took the opportunity to just use one of their unlocked practice rooms to work on my horn a little bit.

Anyway, I'll be posting some pics soon, so stay tuned.

Will write more when I can. Till then, see you later.

Cuong Vu and Kenny (again!)

2008-04-21T16:22:00.005+08:00

Oh yeah,

Tonight was a night full of great music for me and Chern Hwei.

First stop was The Stone, in the Lower East Side. Chris Speed's band was playing, backed by Cuong Vu (trumpet), an accordionist, bassist and drummer (Jim Black, I think). Quite crazy music, but smoother... very interesting compositions and arrangements, experimental, you might say! But very interesting experience... different musical flavor than the usual straight-ahead jazz stuff. It was also very powerful, and in-your-face, but with lots of subtlety, and collective improvisation.

Second stop was the Iridium, to catch the Headhunters (minus Herbie of course) and Kenny Garrett. The band was Kenny (sax), Mike Clark and Lenny White on drums, Bill Summers on percussions, Geri Allen on keys/rhodes, and Richie Goods on electric bass. It was funk-jazz all the way... old school, but powerful nonetheless! And Kenny.. oh my god.. what can I say?? He "kills" all the time! LOL! But it was also interesting to watch Geri Allen, the only female musician in the group, play! I have heard (or read, rather) a lot about her. She's also the other half for the amazing Wallace Roney, the trumpeter (a killer player in his own right!).

After the end of the set, we managed to talk to Kenny a little bit (and spoke some Mandarin to him as well... he's learning Mandarin, too!), and also took some pictures. He is one seriously cool cat! That's like three dreams fulfilled for me... meeting Kenny was one of them!

Anyway, here are some pics for ya!

For more pics, go to my Flickr side, and click on "Snapshots of New York".

YAY!!!

I MET KENNY GARRETT!!

2008-04-19T15:56:00.002+08:00

Saw Kenny at the Iridium Jazz Club a few hours ago!!

Gonna see him again this Sunday!

WOO HOO!!

Stupid American media..

2008-04-19T08:00:00.003+08:00

I happened to Google about Big Brother Jonathan Lee (李宗盛) just before I posted this, and I happened to bump into an archived article of the Jackie Chan embarrassment at the Hong Kong at the 2006 concert, in Entertainment Weekly. It was written by this bloke called Dalton Ross. Read it:

"Jackie Chan is all over the news. And not in a good way. It seems the martial-arts master went to a rock show in Hong Kong recently and stormed the stage in a drunken stupor, demanding that some singer named Jonathan Lee duet with him right there on the spot. According to reports (because I don't personally make it a habit to attend concerts in Hong Kong), Chan then bragged about being wasted, attempted to conduct the band, and kept making the musicians start over again for no apparent reason. Oh, and then he began insulting the folks in the audience, who by this point were heckling Chan for his behavior.

I have a few points to make about this, to a few different parties. We'll start with the audience. What's wrong with you people?!? An international film star bum-rushes the stage, and you boo him? This man is an entertainer, and you cannot possibly tell me that this whole scene was not entertaining. And it's not like he was busting up a Beatles reunion or something — this is some dude named Jonathan Lee! Now, I'm not trying to dis and dismiss the Taiwanese singer-songwriter, but...well, he's a Taiwanese singer-songwriter, for crissakes! (By the way, he could be an American singer-songwriter, French singer-songwriter, hell, even a Cambodian singer-songwriter, and I'd say the same thing. The term ''singer-songwriter'' just generally makes my skin crawl.) And another question for the audience: What the hell did you expect? Have you never heard of the Drunken Master film franchise, in which Chan played a dude who achieved awesome powers after getting completely drunky-skunky? Granted, his powers at the concert could be deemed slightly less awesome, but still, the pattern is clear: The guy can drink. And you better not mess with him when he does.

And now a message to my fellow members of the press who have been piling on poor Jackie for this lack of discretion: Please, keep it up. Seriously, this whole encounter may be a bit unseemly, but it is far less embarrassing than some of his more recent movies, like The Medallion The Tuxedo. Anything to distract us from those debacles can only be a positive, at least until Police Story 18 comes out.
And now a word to Jackie Chan: I don't really have anything to say to you about this whole episode, but while I have your attention, could you please stop making those crappy Diet Pepsi ads with Jay ''Remember When I Used to Star in Movies With Tom Cruise'' Mohr? They're depressing and they make me want to get drunk and storm stages, telling thousands of people to shove it or they'll be on the receiving end of a death claw to the throat. In any event, I loved you in Rumble in the Bronx (even if the Bronx did sure look a hell of a lot like Vancouver) and hate to see you reduced to shilling for a lame diet beverage with the former host of Last Comic Standing. Let's talk about a new career plan. Over drinks, which seems to be your preferred method of operation."

I don't what you guys think, but as far as I know, this is a classic example of the ignoramuses that the U-S of A produce on a daily basis. Here's my reply to Dalton's article:

Dear Mr. Ross,

.. first thing's first.. in this part of the globe, Jonathan Lee is as BIG as the Beatles, in many different respects. He wrote so many beautiful, meaningful songs, that launched many star careers in South East Asia. I don't see you doing, that? He's made a lot of money, and also gained great recognition. What about you? If you ask some the successful artistes that came out of the South East Asian region such as Taiwan, Malaysia, and even China, they'll tell you how respected the man is.

Secondly, you said you're not trying diss and dismiss Jonathan Lee... but by saying all of that shit, you already did. So spare us your contradictory b/s of (not) saying what you mean. Oh yeah, it also shows how much you know about Mr. International Film Star.

And from the audiences' point of view, it's definitely not entertaining. The flow of the concert was disrupted to the point beyond reproach. If you care to spend a few hundred bucks on a Beatles reunion concert, and have some asshole actor/singer coming on stage drunk and spoiling the concert, then you tell me otherwise.

* * * * *

On a similar note, my friends, the Mac Chew band, just finished a full-house Jonathan Lee concert at Nanjing. I can't be there to play the show this time around, as I'm here in NYC. But I guess, my heart was there with them. Definitely miss playing in that band, and with 大哥. Been listening to his music and the concert recordings as well, and I'm filled with great memories of the last two years playing in that group.

Hope to get to play with them again, soon!

I love Mac!

2008-04-17T23:11:00.003+08:00

Apple Mac.. is da bomb!!

I just got off iChat with my good buddy and trumpeter Eddie, who at time of writing is in Nanjing with my other comrades from the Jonathan Lee concert. And the stadium he was playing at had wi-fi, so he got us hooked up on iChat, and I managed to watch their rehearsal and say hi to everyone there!

My mentor and good friend Thomas was playing the sax/flute part this time around.. definitely one of the best, soulful saxophonist in KL!!

Man, I really miss those cats there.

MAC RULES!

Moody.. Heath.. and another gig!

2008-04-09T19:42:00.005+08:00

Ahh.. I'm up at 7am, although I slept sometime past 2am. Very unusual... I usually couldn't wake up past 10am! Must be that unusual request I did last night to wake up early. Anyway, good time than never to update my blog a bit.

Arturo O'Farrill Big Band @ Symphony Space - March 27

Arturo O'Farrill, pianist, and son of the late latin jazz legend Chico O'Farrill, has been making a big name for himself in NYC. One of his projects is the Big Band, where he performs compositions and arrangements of latin jazz nature. My professor and head of QC Jazz program, Michael Mossman, is also one of the main members (and lead trumpeter) for that group.

Their show at Symphony Space was an interesting showcase, as their premiered or featured works of contemporary arrangers/composers, from Paul Shapiro, Michael Webster, Fernando Otero, and more, all arranged in a latin jazz vein but with more edge! Latin jazz of the future, if you will!

One of the more outstanding soloist featured in the show was Badal Roy.. master Indian percussionist, who played tabla that night. Man... that was crazy.... no wonder all the Western percussionists/drummers are digging that stuff from the East.

James Moody Benefit - March 31

Just an update from the last post... this was the gig that Jeremy Monteiro was in town for. And thanks to him, I got to see this show (without causing a black hole in my wallet!) and see some legends play! By the way, this was a benefit concert organized by Mr. James Moody to raise scholarship funds for students in Purchase College SUNY. Every year he will award one of these to one student who qualifies, and of course, the beneficiary is subject to certain terms and conditions (very interesting, that one!).

Some of the cats performing in that gig were real big-wigs, and some of them legends - James Moody, Jon Hendricks (Junji.. you'd freak out!), Jon Faddis, Roy Hargrove, Renee Rosnes, Bill Charlap, Jeremy Monteiro, Todd Coolman, Howard Alden, John Lee, Russell Malone, Antonio Hart, and Paquito D'Rivera, and of course last year's and this year's award recipients. I don't know about those kids, I'd be freaked out playing with them on the same stage!

It was quite a crazy night. Although it was more like a big, happening jam session than an actual artiste showcase, it was still a very enlightening one, especially seeing some of the older cats who are legends in the jazz world, play. Even my professor, Antonio Hart, proceeded to slip in a lesson while he was at it (LOL!).

After the show, we even headed down to Village Vanguard to check out the Vanguard Big Band. By that time, I think my head was already at the brink of exploding from all that good music! LOL! Can one ever have too much?

PS: Thanks again Jeremy!

Jimmy Heath Big Band - April 3rd

Another living legend of the saxophone, Mr. Jimmy Heath, performed with his big band at the Iridium last weekend. Among the line-up included both my professors, Antonio Hart and Michael Mossman. I went down there with a couple of my course buddies (some killer sax players and brass players, too!), and checked out the late set. Another inspiring experience, to see another legend play as well. I think he's in his early to mid 80s (?), but still playing like a young man but with a load of experience and music behind every single note. Of course, with his notorious big band arrangements, it amplified the experience even more!

Rozemaryz Babiez @ Studio A.I.R - April 5th.

My first new band in NYC.. it's a trio consisting of myself on sax, Fung Chern Hwei on violin, and Brian Lindgren on laptop/samples/electronics. Mainly CH's idea, he wanted to put up a group that collaborates live instruments with electronica. This was our first gig as this new band, at a nice little loft cum performance space in Brooklyn, called Studio A.I.R. We did a 15-minute piece we composed (or rather.. cook up) as a group, called "The Butcher". It was a more sound piece than a harmonically composed piece, where we play with different sound effects based on a certain storyline or movement.

We're on MySpace, so check it out. More stuff will be posted soon, I reckon.

*Update*

Check out an interview I did for Vision KL via e-mail, about the jazz scene in KL. Click here to read it.

..that's it for now!

Later.

JC

A Malaysian and two Singaporeans in New York!

2008-03-31T13:04:00.002+08:00

Man... what an interesting week this was!

Singaporean Jazz pianist/composer/educator Jeremy Monteiro and Tama Goh (another drum luminary from Singapore) is down in NYC for a week. JM is to be playing (at time of writing) at the James Moody Scholarship Benefit concert at BB King's on Monday, March 31st. I was hanging out with the both of them the last couple of days.

When they arrived on Wednesday, I met up with them to watch the Endangered Species Big Band, playing the music of Wayne Shorter, at the Iridium. Was nice to see some familiar faces from home region!

Met up with them again on Saturday, with a friend of theirs (who's staying in NY), and we drove upstate to New Paltz, NY, to look around the countryside and meet up with one of NY's finest bass player, Jay Anderson, for lunch. Jeremy have been good friends with Jay for a long while, and the latter last went to Singapore to play the Jimmy Cobb concert at the Esplanade with the former (a show I regretfully missed).

Later that night, we went to check out Joe Locke's band playing Henry Mancini's music, at Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola the Jazz @ Lincoln Center. Joe (vibes) was backed by Geoff Keezer (piano), George Mraz (bass), Clarence Penn (drums), and had guest vocalist Kenny Washington (who incidentally are good friends with Jeremy and Tama, they go back over 10 years!). The arrangements of the Mancini tunes (including the well-known Pink Panther theme) were contemporary, and with flawless execution by these powerhouse musicians, it was a real music treat (to say the least!).

Today, I met up with Jeremy and Tama again, and we had a Malaysian lunch at the infamous Penang Restaurant (there are several branches here in NYC), nearby their hotel. After that we went to a rehearsal studio and jammed some tunes for two hours, just the three of us! Man, it was real satisfying, as I haven't played anywhere near that intensity for a few months now, since I got here.

We headed to Jazz @ Lincoln Center after that, as we intended to meet up with trumpeter Marcus Printup (also a powerhouse trumpeter, and longtime LCJO band member). They were rehearsing for an upcoming show at J@LC, and Mr. Wynton Marsalis was conducting the rehearsal. Marcus brought us in, and we stayed and watched the rehearsal until they finished. Wynton then came over to talk to us, and we said HI, and when I told him who I was and when we met a few years back in KL, he immediately remembered! He actually remembered who I was, even after over five years. Man.. that was something! It was really nice to see Wynton after so long, and he was still as warm as we remembered, and he has a great memory too!

We met up again with the friend that took us upstate, and we went to New Jersey for dinner... my first time in New Jersey, too.

Thanks Jeremy and Tama for the great hang!

A Malaysian (and Singaporean) in New Yawk..

2008-03-25T03:17:00.005+08:00

I went to watch my first my first Broadway musical last weekend in NYC, and like most of the hype generated for people who don't live in NYC, the overall experience was pretty spectacular to say the least. Tickets were courtesy of my cousin sister, PW, from Singapore. She was here on holiday after a short trip to Chicago for business. She stayed at her younger sister, PL's, place.

Friday - The Malaysian and Singaporean Tourist

But before that, just a little tourist-y update. PW and I went on Friday to Times Square, and I, not realizing that it was also Good Friday, had to deal with the humongous tourist crowd that gathered in the Big Apple. And when I mean crowded... it was REALLY crowded! If you put a crowd like that in KL, we might assume it's a demonstration! Anyway, we went to Rockefeller Center for breakfast and she bought us combo tickets to go to "The Top of the Rock" (ie. top of the Rockefeller Center), and the Museum of Modern Arts (MoMA).

The "Top" is probably an equivalent of our KL Tower or the top of our Twin Towers. We could see Manhattan, and even Brooklyn and Queens to distance, rooftop view. It was remarkable, to say the least. One of the more interesting aspects of the tour up there, besides the strict security checks, were the small little things:

1) the down-to-the-minute well-planned organization of the queues. The crowd is separated to three rows. And for the duration of the queue, there's big video presentation of the Rockefeller Center, and at the end of each presentation, it tells you which row is to go up next!

2) The moment the elevator door closes when you enter it, another video presentation lights up on the ceiling of the elevator. And the timing is so precise that the presentation ends when you arrive at the destination floor.

3) Strategic placements of certain technical artworks at certain places in various parts of the rooftop.

The rooftop itself has three levels for scenic view, each upper level with floorspace smaller than one below. The first two has glass panels placed all over the edges of the rooftop so that pictures can be taken without any obstruction (if you don't consider the tourists tho!). The topmost level has a slightly higher wall, but no glass panels, so you could see the view of the city the clearest here. But there's one thing you have to try to resist, the cold, strong wind blowing at you. Wind speed was really strong that even I could feel the strong push when it blows.. the kind that wrecks umbrellas like breaking toothpicks.

Dumb thing was I forgot to bring my camera (or so I thought.. I realized later it was in my bag all along! ARGH!), so I took pics with PW's camera. So I might have to wait awhile before I can get them.

After the Rock, I took the opportunity to get some stuff from the music store, and also get my horn adjusted slightly. PW also bought tickets to the musical Legally Blonde, at the Broadway Palace Theatre. After that, we had lunch, and we headed to MoMA.

MoMA was interesting, as it had a lot of different artworks from different periods and styles, from the more traditional works of Picasso, Van Gogh, to modern works of Dali, Warhol, and others. Artworks range from paintings, sculptures, architectural designs to trinkets of various sizes. I'm not so knowledgeable of visual arts, but it was certainly an interesting experience to have seen a whole bunch of different artworks! I have to say, I was intrigued with some and others I didn't really dig a whole lot.

Saturday - Legally Blonde the Musical (LBtM)

Spent most of the day working on my assignment, and only went out to meet both my cousin sisters at the Broadway Palace Theatre to watch LBtM. LBtM was really entertaining, but what was interesting to note was how well produced it was - from the sets to the dance choreography, the music (!), the actors of course (including the two very well-trained dogs!), and the change of scene choreography! The cast were all fantastic singers and dancers, and the overall sound was also very well done (the sound engineers here are amazing!), too.

If you've seen the movie, you probably know what it is about. But to see it done as a musical, was something else. The storyline was simple, at best, but it was extremely entertaining. Read the NYTimes review of the show here. For me, I just enjoyed the show was it was, and being my first musical in the musical capital of the world (at least to some), it was an experience just worth having.

Again, thanks PW for the tickets!

PS: Pics of artwork at MoMA coming soon!

Workout tracker

2008-03-19T15:21:00.003+08:00

I've just added a Workout Tracker from Buckeye Outdoors Training site. You can see it on the right sidebar, so you can follow my running workouts, as I enter them.

Anyway, the Polar RS200 is a cool heart rate monitor, to say the least. I'm having quite a bit of fun with it, and it has many features previously unavailable from my previous S120, and also managed to get it cheaper too, by chance. I'll use it a little while more and I'll probably write a review about it sometime.

Will wait for a little while before I can get the S1 Footpod. That addition is able to sync with my watch and it can keep track of distance and pace of the run. Not that cheap either, it's probably the same price as my watch, or more. Just checked in Malaysia, the prices aren't that much cheaper too. So I will probably get the Footpod here sometime later.

Later.

Got my RS200!

2008-03-11T02:25:00.003+08:00

My Polar RS200 heart rate monitor (HRM) just came in the mail today! Or rather, I came to the delivery man and got it.

Funny story.

They tried to deliver it to my house on Friday, but no one picked up. I was probably still asleep then, and the doorbell probably does not work. I was expecting them to call me, but they did not. Anyway, I called UPS to have them deliver on Monday (today). When I woke up, I expected them to call me again, but they did not. So I went out for my run, and I found the same sticker notice, saying that they tried to deliver the second time! They should really learn to call. The notice stated that they'll try to deliver again tomorrow (Tues).

Anyway, I decided to go for my run. Managed to do 5km from my house, to 37th Ave to 82nd St. Ran north on 82nd St till I reached Astoria Blvd, and then turned right to head back to 94th St and Junction Blvd before turning back to 37th St to my place. It was a nice run, and the weather was slightly cold at first, but I warmed up easily enough after about 10 minutes into the run.

About a few minutes after I started my run, I saw the UPS truck. So I'd thought I'd wait for him and see if the delivery guy was around, but I think he parked and delivered several packages on foot. So I continued my run. But when I finished my run, I saw the truck again! This time he was parked nearer to my place. So I waited a little for him again while cooling down, and the delivery guy, a Afro-American dude, came back. I just said hi and asked him if he had my package. After checking my student ID (somehow I had an instinct that I should bring it along) he passed my package. He asked me, "you been lookin' for me long?". "I went for my run but I saw your truck (but tried my luck again)", I replied. "Yeah, man.. nice job!" he said with a smile. What luck.. haha.

Anyway, here's a pic of it:

Was playing with it when I came back from my run.. and boy, it's definitely much better than my previous watch! I can't wait to get the footpod, then I can really measure distance, speed, pace, etc. This little computer is so much more interesting to play with.. can't wait to use it for my next run!

Later!

History 8308

2008-03-10T15:31:00.003+08:00

History has been made this year.

You all know what I'm talking about. I only pray that it has been for the better, and not for worse.

To paraphrase Raja Petra (as well as my dad while were on Skype talking - yeah my old folks can do Skype, not bad eh?): You work for the rakyat, not the other way round.. we're the boss.. not you. Don't ever forget that.

It shows that desperate times call for desperate measures. The people are desperate, and the Powers That Be (or Was), did not listen. Worse, they IGNORED the people, and not only that... they turned their desperation against them, saying that the people are wrong!! Now you have been punished for it.

My only regret was that I was not able to be there, and even to fulfill my right as a Malaysian.

To the new cats in town, we only hope that you will do right what has been wrong, and to help us improve on that. Empty promises will result in what you all experience on 8308 except the tides turned against you instead! We all have faith in you! We need change!

On a side note: I've been following the news back home feverishly through the Internet, and I think it was a real surprise for me and my Malaysian mates here in NYC. I think we're all glad that the election turned out the way it did. We only hope the new government will do us Malaysians good!

Now I dare proclaim out loud (AND PROUD!)...

MALAYSIA BOLEH!!!!!!!

MALAYSIA BOLEH!!!!!!!!!

MALAYSIA BOLEH!!!!!!!!!!!!

Voice?

2008-03-07T15:19:00.003+08:00

Check this out y'all.. this is an article from the Star Online I just read:

Vote for a voice in the Government, says Abdullah
PENANG: Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi reminded the Chinese community that if they gave the DAP their votes, they will end up not having any representation in the Government.
“You have to decide if you want a louder voice in Parliament or representation in the Cabinet where they can be more effective in representing all communities,” the Barisan Nasional chairman said.
He said if the Chinese did not have representation in the Cabinet, their requests would not be heard.
However, Abdullah said the Barisan wanted the Chinese community to be part of the Government.
“We do not want to have a government that does not have representation of all ethnic groups in the Cabinet. We want to be the best and I want to do the best for the rakyat,” he said at a press conference after opening the RM110mil project to upgrade Penang Hospital's heart and surgical unit yesterday.
Abdullah reminded Penangites of the situation after the 1990 general election when the MCA was “paralysed.”
“When the MCA lost its voice, the people felt it. I hope they will think very carefully. This is important in the interest of all races,” he added.
On PKR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Abdullah said the former deputy prime minister had changed a lot.
“When he was with the Government, he hit out at the opposition. Now that he is out, he is attacking the Government,” he said.
Abdullah expressed disappointment that Anwar aired Malaysia’s domestic issues to the media in Singapore.
On fuel prices, Abdullah said the Government had taken measures to keep the prices reasonable.
“We are monitoring oil prices in the global market.
“We are taking measures because we do not want the rakyat to be burdened by escalating fuel prices,” he said, adding that the Government was heavily subsiding oil prices to reduce the people’s burden.
Abdullah also said hospital fees were kept low and the Government was monitoring the price of essential goods to ensure they were affordable.
He said there were indications that Barisan would retain Penang and recapture Kelantan,
“Feedback from the ground shows that the people want the Barisan to win,” he added.

Tell me something.. is it me, or is that an outright threat? So, is the government implying, if you're not in BN you won't be heard by the Government at all? Does that sound like democracy to you? Doesn't everyone have an equal right to say or to be heard, opposition or not? Your words contradict your policies, and your supposedly "noble" goals for your people. Even so, what makes you think the Chinese people (or any other ethnic groups for that matter) will be heard, no matter how well represented? What is important to the "government" is that you got more moolah than you need in the pocket at the expense of the people. Sounds to me that's what is implied, don't you think?

What a load of crap!

Good shit cum election fever!

2008-03-07T00:02:00.003+08:00

Check this out folks.. some good shit I stumbled upon not too long ago! These videos were made by Youth4Change. Good stuff.

This is the best!!!

What can I say??

Vote for your rights...vote for change.

Running post!

2008-03-06T15:53:00.006+08:00

Wow.. a running post.. finally! Ahaha.. it serves to remind that I originally started this blog as a running blog. But of course, being more to my life than running (although it has become something more important and prevalent in it), I began to blog about everything else.

But anyway, for those who were interested in my running life (or to those who would be potentially interested), here's something I will share with you.

As you know, being in NY has its perks, especially for runners. Well, being in the US, generally, is a big perk for runners, actually! You could literally just go out and run, and not worry about things like traffic. Well, you would, but not as bad as Malaysia. I mean, back in KL, I would usually have to make scheduled trips to either Lake Gardens, or KLCC park, or it'll be the gym. At home, I'd just run outside, but I'd be running on the highway, which is pretty dangerous. Over here, you can just go and run ANYWHERE.. and at ANYTIME!

There's a fairly healthy running culture here. If you read enough running magazines, I'm sure you would've come across people saying that they go out during their lunchtime break to run, then go back to work. I mean, that will NEVER happen in Malaysia, or extremely rare. Well, the environment here is conducive to do things like that.

In terms of infrastructure, we're having it easy here. It's so easy to run outside. Pavements and walkways are a plenty, it's standard! And we're not even talking about PARKS yet! So far I've only managed to run around the immediate area from my Jackson Heights home. Of course, one drawback is usually the weather. Some days, it's just not conducive to run outside. I've encountered several days when I get psyched up to run, only to be disappointed by strong COLD winds, or snow, or even rain at some days. It would be really uncomfortable. I even began to take solace in checking Yahoo! Weather every day, especially if I plan to run the following morning.

On another note, my Polar S120 heart rate monitor got screwed up over a week ago. I dropped it accidentally, and the display screen screwed up! Talk about bad luck. So I sent it to the nearest Polar service center in NY. The process turned out to be a little more anal (but organized) than I'd like. At home, I would just go to the center (via car of course) and just pass it to somebody there, and if I'm lucky I could have it back the same day! Over here, I had to mail it. That's not before I had go the Polar USA website to register my watch for repair! So mah fan. Anyway, I thought it might have been a simple error to repair, and it wouldn't cost much. When I finally got a reply from them, I found out I was charged US$100 plus for it!!!!!!! CRAZY! But on the other hand, they also offered a Trade-up program, where I just buy another model (newer), at a 30% discount price, and they will keep my previous unit. So, I decided to get a new one. The price they were charging me was even worth a new unit! Anyway I decided on the RS200 model, which is definitely a better upgrade, for what it's worth. So great, I've got a newer, and better heart rate monitor!! (So much for saving money here!). I'm just waiting for it in the mail now.

My running life, however, is still rather slow. But at least I still manage to squeeze in a few runs every week. Max distance has only been 5+ km. That's about 3.5miles... their system of measuring distance. So mah fan. One of the things I've found when I came to NY was this site: MapMyRuns.com. You can search for various run routes at your area. Here's mine:

Well, I can't wait for the weather to spring up.. pun intended. Then I can start wearing my regular shorts and vests, and not have to layer up to run.

That's all for my running so far.

By the way, I would like to extend my congratulations to those who attempted the Ironman Langkawi last month late Feb. Real sports heroes!!

I still hope to be able to do triathlons someday.

School's up!

2008-03-01T14:44:00.006+08:00

Hey all,

I guess I lied! I said I would be updating this blog more often, but I didn't! Haha.. I guess I won't be as free as I originally thought. Well, I'm definitely much more free-er than when I was back home, but school work's piling up quite a bit. Lots of practicing and learning (duh!) to do. Anyway, I just want to update a little bit about what's been happening in school the past month. I'll try to make it brief, so it won't be an eyeful to read.

Well, school's been pretty interesting, to say the least. Just FYI, classes I'm taking are Jazz Arranging and Composition, Jazz Piano Workshop, Jazz Ensemble, and Private Instruction (sax).

Private lessons have been really interesting, and really grueling, too. I'm trying to work on some Barry Harris bebop playing concepts that AH's given me, and it's quite a new process to digest. Now, it's trying to refine some of the things I already know, and I've always known my playing (at least on the bebop side) has always been rather.. messy. I see this as a good opportunity to polish up my ideas. So in some ways, it's sort of starting at a very basic level again.. learning major scales and arpeggios, etc. But it's also an extension of what I already know, so it's new in that respect too. I'm now trying to use these basic ideas to apply to songs that I have to learn week after week. But to say the least, AH's been crazy on me (and all his students anyway!), so it's all hard work like crazy. But that's expected, and I will probably do as well as I can!

Arranging and Composition is pretty interesting also.. but quite a shitload of information. Although I wasn't sure that it's my level to go in yet, Mike M assured that it's fine. Somedays I still feel like I don't know anything, and I'm b/s-ing my way through. Ok, so how the class is run, is that he'll get us to write a short arranging homework every week, and we have to play them in class. So every week we'll have a bunch of horn players, a pianist, and a bassist, and they'll run through as many students' assignments until time runs out. After that he'll comment and correct, or improve on them. Mike's teaching via a "mentoring" system and not with any textbook, so that itself is interesting! But he's been great, and judging from Mike's arrangements we're playing during ensemble, we know he's on HELL of an arranger and composer.

Jazz Piano Workshop is taught by David Berkman, which I know is also one heck of a killer pianist. And as we also found out, he's a real funny cat, too! He makes everyone feel real comfortable in class. So anyway, we're learning some basics of being able to play some piano in a more jazz context (and possibly even for other music too). We're learning some basic skills such as being able to voice out chords using basic root-based chord voicings, play basic voicings with melody on the top, etc. I've definitely learnt quite a bit already, just from this class. So I've even got myself a keyboard to try to practice at home some of these basic techniques. So I guess the goal here is to be able to play on the piano, although not as good as an actual pianist, but at least for practical usage, such as learning the harmonies to songs, and eventually learn to compose (that's my goal!).

Jazz Ensemble is basically split into two sections - Big Band and Combo. I'm in the Big Band class that Mike M runs, and AH runs the combo. I'm on second alto chair. Basically we play arrangements from Mike M (and some of them are his own compositions), some latin-jazz type arrangements, and student arrangements as well. In addition, we have to learn a standard jazz tune or two every week (usually quite a killer one, too), and sometimes we back up the vocal students. For this semester, we've got one killer sax section.. all the fellas (me probably being the worst one) are so damn good! To say "talented" is a freakin' understatement! But thankfully all of them have been really cool, friendly cats, and pretty down to earth. Quite inspiring to that end. It's always really interesting to listen to them play, if anything, it makes me want to play better, too!

So far, that's what school is. It's probably not half as interesting as working life, but then, it's interesting in a totally different respect. I have to say, I was having a slight tough time to assimilate myself back to having a student life, not having to go to school for the last 7 years. But it's starting to kick in a little now. I still miss home quite a bit. I'm starting to make some friends with my coursemates. But since it's only been a month plus, we'll see what happens along the way. But I do agree with Chern Hwei on one thing, can beat our own Malaysian kaki's lah... can relate more, for sure.

Anyway to leave off, I've got some nice pics of snow that took place about over a week ago. Enjoy. It's snowing again, at the time of writing.

Snow outside my house

Snow right outside at the intersection

Snow monster 1

Snow monster 2

Some performance vids on Youtube

2008-02-16T06:17:00.003+08:00

Here are some videos of BOPLICITY's performance at Bangkok Jazz for my farewell gig on the 13th Jan 2008. The featured clips are courtesy of Ben Lee and Ivy.. thanks to them for bringing their video camera!

Enjoy!

BLUESANOVA - part 1

BLUESANOVA - part 2

JUNE BUG

I will be adding at least one more soon! So stay tuned!

Happy Chinese New Year!!

2008-02-10T04:28:00.001+08:00

Happy Chinese New Year to all of ya!!

Looks like this will be the first CNY I'm spending away from home, family and friends. I miss home, but CNY makes me even more homesick than I really was! Looks like it'll be a few more years of being like this. I suppose I will eventually get used to it, but I'll still miss it.

Anyway, I'm feeling CNY in spirit with everyone back home... I hope you all had a good one!!

May this year bring you even more good health and prosperity!

Anyway, for some pics of NYC and myself (I finally updated them!), click here. Enjoy!

Later!!

Humbled...

2008-02-01T10:13:00.000+08:00

... beyond belief!

That's how I feel right now.. coming back from my classes today.

I had a private lesson with AH, and ensemble class slightly later in the evening. That was the moment I could get to see the cats around me play, and boy, can they play!! More on that later.

Private instruction was really good... but I realized how truly weak a saxophone player I was, just from this first lesson. I felt like I couldn't play at all, in front of AH! There's a lot of work to be done... A LOT! My lack of commitment to practicing has shown. This was my first humbling experience for today.

Jazz ensemble... well, we played a few big band arrangements. Among them were two familiar tunes, Mambo Inn and Smoke Gets In Your Eyes. And before you could say, ".. easy song wuttt...", man... the arrangements were kick ass to play! I had some problems sight-reading it (ie. I'm slow), and the other sax players beside me were reading it like it was nothing! Not only that, they could solo so well!! And they weren't easy parts too. 16th notes, with loads of accidentals, etc. Man.. some of them were pretty sick bebop-ish lines to play! Man.. I'm probably one of the weakest members in the group... no, I probably am! The arrangement for Smoke, Mr. Mossman did it for the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band.. oh man.. what a killer arrangement. Gotta work on that..

To say I am humbled, is a severe understatement. Trashed is more like it!

I can understand why some people will give up halfway.. and some even went nuts, too, I heard.

I must... no, I will find the strength in me to pull through. I didn't come all this way to NYC to give in so easily!

.... help!

LOL!

Wish me luck..

I got it!

2008-01-31T02:12:00.001+08:00

Got the room...

Yeeeeehhaaaaa..!!

Mingus! Mingus! Mingus!

2008-01-30T15:26:00.000+08:00

Just got back from the Iridium in Manhattan with CH... went to watch the Mingus Dynasty Band. It's my second jazz show I've checked out to date!

MAN!! Those guys are crazy!!

The benefits of being in NYC... checking out the best cats, and the most amazing music in the hub of jazz!!

~~Will write about it on All Dat Jazz soon!~~

UPDATED:

Read all about it here...

First day..

2008-01-30T10:06:00.000+08:00

Just came back from my first day of class today, it was a Jazz Composition class by Michael Mossman. Since it's a first class for many of us, ie. new intake students like myself, the class consisted of a placement test. Mike wasn't there, so Antonio Hart passed out the test papers, and a homework for next week! Ack..

Anyway, some updates from the past week:

- Did my first gig in NYC, last Friday! Yeah.. but that's also thanks to Chern Hwei who roped me in. We played at a Korean bar called Maxim at Stanford Hotel West 32nd Street in Manhattan. It was a 3-piece gig, with CH (violin), Michelle Marie (guitar), and myself. Simple gig, we played some standards as well as a couple of CH's tunes. Got $30 from it.. haha... not bad for a first gig!

- Also managed to get another gig for sometime in March, backing an acrobatic dance show. This was also coincidental. Was hanging out with CH, when he went for the demo recording, and I had my horn with me. After a couple of tunes, the bandleader wanted to do some jazz-like kinda piece (most of this were quite improvised, by the way), and he just asked if I wanted to play along. Of course, I agreed. After that, he liked what I did, and he asked me to play this gig as well! Nice!! Thanks to CH again!

- Met Antonio Hart.. finally! If you didn't know already... he's one kick ass saxophone player... played around the scene and the world as a leader, as well as with Roy Hargrove, Dave Holland, Hilton Ruiz, and more. And he's teaching right here in Queens College... and he'll be my saxophone professor! Woo hoo.. can't wait.

- Moved in to the new room, same house. But still not confirmed if I'll get the place. Will be meeting the landlord tomorrow. Wish me luck.. (yes, mom, I'll use the ring!).

- Went to watch some singer-songwriter gig at The Bitter End with CH, as he was playing there with one of them. Sad to say, the fella he was playing with.. man.. really sucked. The guy before him was really good, though. Good guitar player, as well as a singer. By the way, The Bitter End, at Bleecker St, is in between East and West Village in Manhattan. Apparently it's the place where Bob Dylan cut his teeth and became famous! Go figure.. nice rustic little spot!

- I've copied some pics onto my computer, will post them whenever I can. So wait for them... might post them on Facebook first.

Till then..

Later.

1st week in NYC.. cont'd

2008-01-22T10:32:00.000+08:00

Day 2 - 01/18 (Friday)

Got up late, as expected. Was still a little jet-lagged, so stayed home for most part. Managed to get a prepaid number from T-Mobile..well, SORT of prepaid. The plan is something like postpaid but without contract, comes with a monthly contract. At night we went out a while, shopped at JCPenney at Queens Plaza, I managed to get a nice windbreaker jacket for running, and went to the Village area. Stood in front of renown jazz club Blue Note. Didn't go in of course, WAY too expensive. McCoy Tyner was playing that night. Met up with Rozhan and some of his former Berklee buddies, and went for some drinks around Upper East Side (a.k.a Alphabet City.. for it's alphabetically named streets). Hung out a short while and headed back to crash some more.

Day 3 - 01/19 (Saturday)

Another real lazy day for me. Walked around Jackson Heights area, from 89 to 82 St, and managed to open a Citibank bank account with the phone account record. Bank officer was a nice Pinoy lady who helped me and was a good person to have a conversation with, too. After that, I just went home and crashed, for a couple of hours... still jet-lagged. Hung out for a while, then went to sleep again for the night.

Day 5 - 01/20 (Sunday)

Went out for an early morning run just around the area. It wasn't easy running in the cold. Ran for about slightly over half an hour. Didn't run for 2 weeks, so I was trying to take it easy as well. But I felt good after that. It was nice to run again, and was quite an experience running in the cold below 0℃, not easy especially with the windchill.

Had some sandwich for breakfast, and was watching a bit of Stargate on my laptop. Managed to practice my horn a little bit as well! Later on in the afternoon, had to help Chern Hwei finish up some of his work with some classical charts, and was due for delivery on the same day. Rushed to Grand Central Station to take a Metro North train to New Rochelle NY, a nice suburb.

Then we hung out back at the house, had some wine, then crashed.

Today...

Did laundry.

Went out to town on my own - my first subway trip alone - to try to catch this Piano Marathon performance, in conjunction with the reopening of this performance hall called, Merkin Hall at the Kaufman Arts Center. I wanted to catch Vijay Iyer play, but couldn't. Too many people queuing up, and probably didn't have enough seats either. Had coffee with one of CH's friends, then went alone to Roberto's Woodwinds shop. Oh man.. I've never seen so many horns lined up for display in my life!!! Can't wait to try some of them later.

Now here I am, not freezing my balls out there now...

Day 1 - Doing okay!

2008-01-20T03:35:00.000+08:00

Hi all,

Just wanted to let y'all know I'm doing okay here. Weather's cold, some days are 0°C and high and lows are around 4℃ to even -8℃ I think. I still haven't found a place, and my friend Chern Hwei's been gracious enough to let me bunk in with him until I do.

Just a recap of what I did since I arrived:

01/16/08 9pm +8 GMT (American system mah...)

Flight was alright, for most part, took off around 9pm. Reached Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok in almost 2 hours. Then had to wait in transit for slightly over an hour. Airport food was expensive, man. And Thai baht was definitely stronger now.. I got 840 baht for RM100! Go figure. Had some Lebanese-style food, falafel kebab. Satisfying but not too heavy on the stomach, had enough of Thai food for sure. Called my friend Chee Meng who's still in BKK. After about an hour, I walked around the shops some more, and decided to check out the terminal I was supposed to check into. They had secondary security checks, so had to open up my hand carry bags, and my horn cases. But it was painless. Waited for another half hour at the waiting area before boarding. Found my seat... but my Kajang kakis joke about me sitting next to a fat guy came true! And it's a window seat! Sheettt!!! It's a Bangla fella in his late-40s... nuts. Even tried changing seats later, but to no avail, those who had extra seats took it for themselves. Biatch.

Direct flight to JFK airport was uneventful, but my runny nose from several days of not sleeping properly made it a little uncomfortable (and so did trying to get out to the main aisle to the restroom!). Sleep pattern in the plane was like... eat.. watch a show.. sleep.. toilet.. sleep.. eat.. watch a show.. sleep.. toilet.. for about three times. Next thing i knew, we've arrived! My first sight of the country was already amazing. From the plane you could see a large pool of light (street lights, house lights) that shows how big the city is! Amazing.

01/17/08 around 6am

Got off the plane and into the immigration and customs. It was a fairly long wait. They had two lines, one for visitors and the other for US citizens. And there were a lot of African people and Jews that were visiting that day. Immigration was a breeze, luckily. Officer didn't ask too many questions. Went to collect baggage. First stupid thing I encountered: I had to pay $3 to rent a luggage cart.. like WTF?? And I didn't have change, so I had to use credit card (sorry folks!). Got into customs, they asked some basic questions like: Did you bring any plants, raw food, etc. I said "No.". And that was that. I was out of the customs and into the arrival hall. YES!

Called Chern Hwei. He was late (or rather I was early as well), and he was still at home when I called. Then bought myself a cup of coffee and a nice cheese bagel at Au Bon Pain. My first American meal. Go figure. Walked around the hall a little, and waited for CH. When he came we took a cab (chinese driver, cos he said was cheaper), and straight to CH's house in Jackson Heights. It was 0℃ at the time. Chilled out for a while, then went out for breakfast with CH's housemate at Flushing Chinatown, via subway train, for some breakfast - Hot Soy milk with yao char guai! Nice!

Tried to open a bank account at a Citibank in Flushing, but they required secondary ID with proof of address. Bugger. Took a bus to Queens College and went to the Int'l Students' Office to report in, then to Admissions to change address to CH's house, Health Services to submit immunization form, then finally to the Aaron Copland School of Music to see the program director, Michael Mossman. Luckily, he was in! He signed me in, and gave me a breakdown of the subjects I'll be doing. Cool. Tried to look for my saxophone lecturer, Antonio Hart, but he wasn't in.

Took another bus and subway to Times Square in Manhattan, and saw all those tall buildings (think I Am Legend), and CH was showing me the spots that were in the movie. Saw Wall St, Dow Jones, Nasdaq, CNN building at Time Warner building (which also houses Jazz @ Lincoln Center!!), Carnegie Hall, and even Julliard School of Music. Went to the Lincoln Center building, and then Barnes and Nobles store (man.. that's huge! And all those books!!!!). Went back home to Jackson Heights to crash for a couple of hours, then we headed out again.

We went back to Times Square to the Jazz @ Lincoln Center to check out an after hours gig - Etienne Charles Quintet - at Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola. Etienne's one of CH's friends, and he had a damn nice band, too. Dizzy's is a nice jazz spot (not that cheap though). Randy Weston's band was playing the first two sets, but we didn't want to spend too much on it yet, so we saw the after hours gig only. Etienne's band played entirely original material, and it was great. Read about my brief experience at the All Dat Jazz website, here. Met up with another two of CH's friends, both violinists. After the gig we went to a nice japanese/korean fusion restaurant. Even had some nice vegetarian varieties too. After that it was home back to bed!! Best thing about the subway, it runs 24/7. So taxis are an option!

Talk about really getting around on the first day! To top that, I was really jet-lagged AND underslept from the past few days. So I passed out really quick. At this time of writing, the effects have lessened, but still need to relax a bit more to get accustomed to the time.

Haven't started running yet though. Might do it tomorrow morning.

Anyway, that's it for today. Will write more later.

Hasta la vista...

Greetings from Queens, NYC!

2008-01-17T22:36:00.000+08:00

I'm here!!!! FINALLY!!!

Arrived safe and sound.. and not much trouble getting out of customs and immigration, thank God!

Hey Mom and Dad, I'm here!! Wooo hoooo...

Will write more later. I'm at Chern Hwei's place at the mo.. stomach growling from hunger. Will try to post some pics when time permits. This fella is already telling me that we're going downtown tonight to check out some gigs.. wah liao. I'm still groggy from the lack of sleep, now developing a slight runny nice.. basket.

Ok, later. Just wanted to let y'all know I'm here and alright!

D-Day.. to NYC!

2008-01-16T12:48:00.000+08:00

Today's the day!

I'm leaving for New York in a couple of hours. I'm a lot of things at once right now - excited, sad, exhausted, energetic, contemplative, among other things. But one thing just sticks in my head...

YES!!!! I'm finally going!!

LOL!

Anyway, had a nice farewell dinner with my friends and colleagues in the musicians' circle last night, but I did not expect such a big turnout... THREE big tables!! Wow.. thanks to all of you guys for coming last night, it was a great night for me. I really appreciate your presence and your kindness! You guys are the BESTEST!!

Okay...

Well, after today, it might be a while before I'll start posting again. But I reckon I'll have more time to post, with pictures! Once I've settled down a bit, I'll be updating this blog again.

Till then, wish me luck!!

See you soon!

An open letter from me

2008-01-12T04:35:00.000+08:00

Hi everyone,

With great pleasure, I would like to inform you that I am FINALLY leaving for the US for my further studies in Music... and YES, it's finally confirmed! It has been a long wait, as it had been a very long process to come to this juncture, but it has finally come to fruition. I will depart for NYC this Wed, Jan 16th.

Overall, I'll probably be away for at least 2 years, for the duration of my study. What happens after graduation still remains to be seen, depending on the opportunities I can source out there. If there's a possibility of me working a lot overseas after my studies, then I will probably remain overseas for a fairly extensive period of time. However, I do hope we can keep in touch, whether its via email, MSN and/or Yahoo! Messenger, iChat, Skype, etc. As much as I wanted to go overseas, I'm very much fond of home in Malaysia, and it will still remain home, until by some unforeseen circumstance it will cease to remain so. As such, I would like to be very much kept posted on what happens back home.

To cut to the long speech: I have to say the last seven to eight years have been really great for me, especially in music. I have made a lot of friends and business associates, and I have been enriched by that friendship. And this is just and addition to the great friends I've already had before that. My career in music in Malaysia had been such an amazing experience, good and bad ones included, and I've had the opportunity to do so much and work with so many great people in the business and I've learnt so much with each job or project or performance that I had done. I would like to extend my gratitude to each and everyone of you for that.

Anyway, without making it sound like a presidential or Grammys speech (it probably already does!), I would like to mention and extend a special "Thank You" to the few key people who have in many ways helped me to get to where I am right now:

My family - Mom, Dad, and my brother Gavin for such tremendous support and love, no words can express my gratitude and my feelings for them! If not for them, none of this would have been possible.... EVER!! I am definitely an extremely blessed person to have been born into this family with these great parents and siblings! You understood what being real parents are, and I really hope I have done you proud, and I will continue to do so. I hope with music, it can show some of it, if not all!

My grandma - I think there's where the gene came from, however recessive it might had been!

Kay Ti - my childhood BEST friend.. you're probably more than that... a more equivalent of a brother! I really appreciate the friendship and the brotherhood we have since as long as I could remember, as well as the fact that we have maintained it still. I cannot even say in words how much you being in my life mean to me. You were always there as a second head for me, whenever I somehow lost mine along the way, with your amazing knowledge and wisdom despite at such young age, being such a guiding light.

My KKFC brothers - you guys are the support pillars at home for me! Your unending and unconditional friendship reminds me at all times where home is (even though some of you ain't in Kajang no more!). You guys are ALWAYS there whenever anyone of us is in need. I will miss those night-outs with you guys, snooker, Half-Life, and nightly mamak sessions, and the occasional outings to Genting, clubs, etc. I've had some of the best memories with you fellas (and some pretty icky ones *wink*), and I will cherish them all.

Thomas Theseira and Greg Lyons - my saxophone (and more!) mentors, and most of all, you're my great friends! You have helped me make a dream possible. You have showed me that there is hope that one is able to achieve something one never thought would've been possible. You have helped paved a road for me which was previously non-existent, and that I can go to this road and with that, experience something I wouldn't have been able to experience otherwise. You have also showed me what it means to be a real musician, to tread the path less taken, and the life that comes with it. And most importantly, you have shown me how to be a real person in this path I have taken.

My closest bandmates and musician brothers and sisters - Eddie, Justin, AJ, Charles, Cher Siang, Vincent, Martin, John, Eric, Fly, Rozhan, Tok Khon, Gigi, Chee Meng, Benjamin and more. I have had the opportunity to play with some of the best young musicians in KL, and I learnt a whole lot, bit by bit, from each time I get to play with them. Not only are they my bandmates, but my good friends. Being on the bandstand with them did not only mean just getting together and just playing our instruments, but sharing and feeding off each other's positive energy. Being off the bandstand, they're like my second family. I definitely have made some of the best music with you guys!

David Gomes and Junji Delfino and the fab five - for welcoming me into your extended family, and not just in music. I've learnt so much from playing and hanging out with you guys, not to mention laugh a whole lot!! And thanks for being one of the few people who showed me the art of soul in music, you guys just give out so much in each performance!! And I'm glad I had been part of it over the last several years!!

My other musical seniors and mentors - Michael Veerapen, Farid Ali, Jose Thomas, David Yee, Aubrey Suwito, Mac Chew, Jenny Chin, Acis, Jonathan Lee, and practically everyone I've ever worked with. Thank you for your patience and your guidance. I've had the best time working with all of you guys.

Jazz venue people - Evelyn from No Black Tie, Elyna and Kor Shing at Bangkok Jazz, Groove Junction, Rick's Cafe Casablanca, Top Room (too bad it's gone). Thanks for having my play at your places, it has been such a great learning experience!

My music juniors, y'all know who you are, keep up the work and the passion. Thanks for the opportunity to work with you fellas, too. We'll play together soon!

Last but not least... God.. for the Gift that The Almighty has blessed me with.

I might have missed some people out, or rather a whole lot, but my gratitude extends to all of you as well.

Anyway, I'm not leaving for good or anything, but I will be gone for quite a little while. At the moment, I reckon I'l be back during this summer holidays as I'm working on a project which I hope will take off. Please do keep in touch. I would love to hear from you all every once in a while. If you're in MSN, or Yahoo, or GTalk, or Skype and don't have my contact, send me an email, and I'll give you my IDs for all of them.

I will be updating my blog sometime when I get there, and probably will have the opportunity to update it more often. So if you want to keep tabs on me, log on to my blog: http://jcsax.blogspot.com. Of course I won't tell EVERYTHING but most of it, at least the one I want to say anyway! Heh heh.

Last but not least, if you're on Facebook, then you've probably been invited. So, I'm cordially inviting everyone to my farewell gig this Sunday night at Bangkok Jazz.

One Night Stand with JULIAN CHAN featuring BOPLICITY and HAPPY PEOPLE QUINTET

Venue: BANGKOK JAZZ, Chulan Square, Jalan Raja Chulan Time: 9pm onwards. Cover Charge: RM15 (sorry lah, still gotta make some cash, right?? New York weii.. very the ex..) For more info, check out www.alldatjazz.com. Thanks!

PS: Wish me luck!

Back from Bangkok!

2008-01-10T02:03:00.000+08:00

I just got back from a 3-day trip from Bangkok. Went there with Eddie. And what a fun three days it was. Not to mention a stomach-churning one.. with the spicy food and all!

I went up there from Penang after my auntie's (she's 2 years older than me, in case you were wondering) wedding! And I've wanted to visit Bangkok before going off to NYC, and now I managed to do that. It was great, as I got to visit two friends I really haven't seen for a little while.. CM and Sharon (who's been there working for the past 5 years!). It was really great that I got to see them again, before I leave. And they even took care of us a little bit while we were there, taking us for food and entertainment, etc.

Anyway, I won't write much about it at the moment. I'll write a little if I have the time, and maybe post some photos.

Now I just have to worry about next week...

Tired.

Good night.

I'm goin' to NYC!!!

2007-12-31T13:19:00.000+08:00

I got it!

YES!

The end of a good, but brief era.

2007-12-29T13:17:00.000+08:00

Wishing my dear readers, and everyone else (a bit late but who cares?):

* MERRY CHRISTMAS & A BLESSED NEW YEAR!! *

I pray that the new year will bring you all more blessings, great health, and the propensity to change ourselves for the better.

* * * * *

Yes, it's official now:

Top Room @ Top Hat Restaurant is closing down! Read about it here.

The place where I have been making a lot of rounds over the past 1 year over, with my own groups and with others, is closing its doors from Jan 1. The restaurant business in Top Hat is still running of course, but the jazz is gone.

So to commemorate its closure, there'll be a jam session, hopefully a massive one, this SUNDAY 30 December 2007, from 6pm. I will be there for sure, and I heavy-heartedly say that I was there when it opened, and now when it is closing as well.

In many ways Top Room was a place close to my heart, as I did a lot of my playing over the past year ever since it opened. And it was such a great place to have good jazz music, and there was a lot going for it - great ambience, and great sound, and great intimacy. But unfortunately, those qualities aren't necessarily enough to sustain a place like that.

I also want to point out that the new year starts heavy for me because of that. One would hope something good like that could go on, especially with the prospect of my (hopefully soon) departure for further studies. I would have loved to follow its progress over the next few months, and also gig if I get back here for my holidays. Alas, it is not to be. But I also hope that the remaining jazz joints keep up the good work, and maybe more potentially good ones would open up (at least I've got spots to play while I'm on summer holidays!!) as well.

Goodbye, Top Room!

* * * * *

My visa interview is this Monday morning. Wish me luck! Once I get it, I'm good to go.

* * * * *

I'm so saddened when I saw it on the Net.. the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. The world is a severely injured, and fractured place now, and it's gotten worse over the years (talk about understatement).

Usually I'm quite oblivious and ignorant about things around, as I never had fondness for governmental and national politics. But it is really getting hard to ignore it. And to quote sax great Phil Woods, "Musicians must be worldly people", so music has ingrained a bit of that in me. I feel a bit sad over some of the things that has been happening to our world, and mostly because most of the more horrendous ones result from only one entity: Man.

The question is: What can us lay people do about it?

A conceptual option I can think of is, be positive. Not just in thinking but in spirit as well. I cannot stress how important that is. Hopefully try to apply that in our daily lives as well. You'd be surprised how much difference it can make. I think I have lost a bit of that over the past several years, and I am trying to find it back. I need it.

You can read and find out more about it in scriptures, whether the Bible, the Dharma, the Quran, I-Ching, Tao Te Ching, and others. And I think this is the time we should do it, to save the world and save ourselves.

Kajang.. sudah maju?

2007-12-21T13:01:00.000+08:00

I was just walking in Kajang town just yesterday (something which I hardly do these days, mind you) to go the bank, to do my US Visa processing fee payment. But as dumb as it got, I didn't realize it was a national holiday, Hari Raya Haji, and the banks weren't open. Anyway, I went to do a couple of more errands, and to have my mobile phone fixed. While waiting for it, I dropped by the new shopping mall in Kajang, METRO POINT, to check it out. It's located right opposite from my old high school, and before all of that, there was a tennis court I used to play at during my high school years.

Anyway, when I entered the building through the front entrance, lo and behold, the first thing I saw blew my mind away!

STARBUCKS COFFEE

I COULDN'T BELIEVE IT!

Yes, it's true.. there's now a Starbucks Coffee in Kajang! Incredible!

Maybe Kajang town has started to move on with the times! I'd never thought I'd actually see one in this small, albeit growing, town. Now the question ponders in my head: Is Kajang ready for a Starbucks?

No seriously... do the people here even understand the concept of a cafe latte (or even a hot chocolate) for that matter? LOL! Okay, you can stop laughing now..

Or the more important question is: Is the people of Kajang ready to pay a premium for that kind of coffee, when most of the time the people here relate to teh tarik and kopi (to colloquialize local coffee) more than a double espresso macchiato?

Well, we'll see what happens in a couple of months... or maybe more (more on that later!) and see if the Kajang Starbucks Coffee will last. If it does...AMEN.. I don't have to go far for a good cuppa!

Singapore Marathon... ahhh..

2007-12-05T23:18:00.000+08:00

Well, it was a blast for me!

After a really head-banging, stressful week, I was really anxious to go down to Singapore to run the race. My last race was really Penang Bridge Run, which was also good! But unlike Penang, I wasn't properly trained for this, and this was also attributed to the fact that I had such a miserable week, and it was also miserable because I couldn't train as well! But I was adamant on going anyway to enjoy the race! And enjoy it I did...

Anyway, I went down south early Friday morning with my drummer Martin, who wanted to go and check out the clubs there, and also see Eugene Pao (an amazing jazz guitarist from Hong Kong) at Jazz @ Southbridge. (Note: I got stood up by my good buddy who was also supposed to do the race.. but backed out due to illness!). We checked into the Killiney Budget Room (great place by the way, and cheap!) and just walked around a bit. I retired to my room to sleep for a couple of hours (while Martin met up with his friend) and then went to check out Eugene's gig later that night. Greg was also playing with Eugene for that three-day gig. And he later told me he wasn't doing the race (Greg was supposed to do the full distance), as he did not train up to that distance. Darn. Anyway, we left early as I wanted to head back to sleep earlier and get as much rest on the Friday night.

Saturday, I woke up for a 20 minute run to warm up the joints a bit. Probably my only run for the past week. After that we ended up walking some more for a little bit. I went over to the Esplanade and collected my race kits, and rendezvous-ed with Greg, June, Kerong (who was also doing the race), Darren and one of Greg's friends. Collection was a breeze, and so well organized you hardly had to break a sweat doing it! Kudos to the organizers! After that I did the same thing in the evening.. slept for a couple of hours and went out to Southbridge. Second night's show was a real blast.. they just played crazy!! Eugene Pao is definitely one of them guitarists I enjoy listening to!!! Left to retire early again. Just before sleeping, I did the usual pre-race preparations - shoes, bibs, vests, gels, water, etc. I also had a strange feeling I won't be able to sleep that night, and so right I was. I didn't sleep too well at all. Mostly the feeling of being half-asleep.

Race day

I awoke about 4-something in the morning. I wanted the time so I didn't have to rush having toilet emergencies. Had a snack bar and a fruit for pre-race meal. Once I finished preparing myself, I headed out to the Padang at City Hall by walking/jogging from the budget room to the start point... good way to warm up! When I got there, I waited in line to drop off the race luggage bag at the Baggage Collection point (well-organized as well!), and off to the starting point. I was trying to look around for June, who was also doing the half-distance, but to no avail. There was just way TOO many people out there. Coincidentally, I bumped into Pek Fui who was also doing it with a friend, what a surprise! Anyhow, like any race, I always try to spot people that I might possibly recognize, but also to no avail. Tough luck.. I wasn't even sure who was taking part! Oh well..

Flag off at 6:15am... and off we went. I started with a slight sense of trepidation, as I did not know what to expect during the race. But anyhow, I started running at a fairly relaxed pace, and allowed others to overtake. Unlike KL, there are more... fit runners... here, so that prospect was pretty terrifying! But to quote this year's Marathon motto: RUN YOUR OWN RACE, I told myself the same thing, and just proceeded with running at my own pace.

I found I was running at training pace, and it was comfortable for me. I knew I didn't have a choice, as my training encountered a setback, but I didn't let that stop me. If I pushed to race pace, I knew I might burn myself out a little too quickly. The first 10 - 15k was fairly comfortable, and I could maintain that pace, most of the way, except when I had to stop and queue for the restroom. I think I wasted valuable time on that, but when you gotta go, you just gotta go. But I could already feel my legs stiffening up even up to the halfway mark, and this was a clear sign of undertraining on my part. I stopped once or twice to stretch just to loosen them up.

Hydration stops were well planned out, and well supplied with both water and 100plus. They even had bananas at one particular stop. I think I managed hydration pretty well this race, having a bottle of Accelerade on one side and water on the other (I had one of those two small bottle fuel belts!), and two PowerGels (only used one). After the 15-16k mark I did the run/walk routine as my legs were awfully stiffened up and couldn't really go at a faster pace. It felt like I had the energy to run, but my legs just weren't in the condition to go.

Anyhow, I could not manage a sub 2:50 timing as I would like, as I was barely near the finish line when it was past 2:50. But I still went on and told myself to FINISH, FINISH, FINISH "You Can Do It!" and other self-psycho-ing encouragements! Next thing I knew, the finish line was near...I was running on the Esplanade Bridge... and it was really sunny hot... and only at the last 500m I just continued on running at whatever pace I could manage and finished up at 2:57:04. Not my best timing, but I was really happy I could finish it! AHHHH.. VICTORY!!

After collecting my baggage, and stretching a bit, I met up with Greg and June and went off to had a light snack to replenish. I went back to the budget room via MRT, washed up and had a late breakfast with Martin. Slept for a few hours, and went out to walk around at Singapore Plaza... and ate again. We went back to the room, chilled out a short while, and then met up with Greg and June at Borders (we walked there.. even while my legs were still sore), and had dinner not long after that! I felt like a virtual bottomless pit!! Even after dinner, I still didn't feel like I had enough to eat! We sat around for drinks and chatted quite a bit, and then departed each other's company and the both of us headed to Boat Quay to go for the jam sessions there. Man, what a day!

Next day was a real sleepy day as we couldn't really get up as we were both so tired from the last few days. But eventually we got up, had lunch, checked out, and went out walking again! Not much, just to a few shops, and sat around for coffee while killing time! Eventually, we got our luggage from the room, and departed to the First Coach bus depot to catch the 6.30pm bus back to KL!

What a trip this was!

Anyway, here are some pictures for you to enjoy!

race morning @ start line.. getting ready to go..

marina south.. check out Singapore's Eye

police drumline.. very cool

yay.. finish line nearby liao!!

Greg & June

me cam-whoring...what a relief

yay.. another medal!!

another view of it

2:57...

2007-12-02T12:28:00.000+08:00

That's more or less my Chip timing..

Yay!!

I'm glad I finished... I FEEL GOOD... nehh, nehh, nehh, nehh, nehh, nehh, nehhh...

Greetings from Singapore..

2007-12-02T01:21:00.000+08:00

It's 1.29am in Singapore, and I've just prepped my race kits.

I'm really psyched to run the race.. half distance marathon at the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon. It'll be my second SG Marathon, my last one being year 2004. Although I can't say I'm fully trained for it.. I don't give a *toot*... I'm gonna try to enjoy it anyway!!!

Wish me luck.. will try to take pictures if I can!!

PS: I'm shifting all my running reports and related blogs about it here, from my other running blog. Too lazy to maintain two sites...

Hello from Singapore..

2007-11-21T11:19:00.000+08:00

I'm back here in the Lion City, for a couple of days. I came here on Monday for a gig with my sifu, Greg Lyons' Omniform Band, and we were playing at Blu Jaz Cafe, right in the heart of the city. It also provided and excellent opportunity to get out of KL town for a couple of days and chill out somewhere else (and play some good music!).

The band itself was a kick-ass band, comprises of keyboards, bass and drums with a large horn section - two trombones, two saxophones, one flute, and a trumpet. It's basically similar to Greg's (KL) Nonet band, but more punch, and that's no surprise - everyone in the group are good players! Because of that, the intensity and energy level of the Singaporean group is much more higher than that of KL. And that was really fun to play.. really challenges me to play! We played some new pieces on top of the older ones, but no less challenging at that. Since everyone in the group are good players, everyone had a chance to improvise at different songs, and it really made the band much more happening! Great night.. intense, and really fun to play. Hope I'll get the chance to play more with this band soon.

On a side note, I also had the opportunity to do a good long run at East Coast Park. A full two hours!! I think I ran for about 15k, plus minus a few hundred metres. Although I haven't wrote about it, but I'm training for the StanChart Singapore Marathon, which will take place next Sunday! So it means I'll be back here again! Woo hoo...

See you back in KL!

Terry Fox Run and then some..

2007-11-06T00:50:00.000+08:00

Been a while again since I updated my blog.. AHaha.. my apologies to my dear faithful readers! I have been so distracted with so many things until blog-negligence is eminent - from work and performances, Facebook (yes, I'm on it.. eck!), downloaded TV shows, sleep, and what's not!

Anyway, there has been some interesting stuff that's been happening lately for me, nothing ground-breaking, but interesting enough for me to note. One of them includes playing for Michael Veerapen in a quartet setting, something he does not do very often (most of the time it's a trio), at Alexis Ampang over two weeks ago.

It was quite a gig... and those who came and say us play will probably agree. Let's just say: for those who know me well, it's been a while since I perspired in a gig like that two nights in a row. Musically it was really challenging, and it's been quite a while I was really pushed like that (hence the heavy sweating!). We played some of Mike's original tunes (Pictures, Consequence), and re-arrangements of some cover tunes (Bop Be, Jauh-Jauh - yes, the Jimmy Boyle one, Bouncing with Bud, and some others). We had Michael on piano, me on saxophones, AJ on electric upright bass, and Charles Wong on drums. Quite a team we made. We only had some rehearsals several days before the gig, but we were taking on some serious material like Phil Markowitz's In The Woods, and Chick Corea's Eternal Child. Despite all the funny mistakes I did (as well as AJ) during the rehearsals, but show itself turned out pretty exciting, and good too (plus minus a few boo-boos.. can't run away from it sometimes!). The band was really open to everybody's playing, and musical interpretation, and this itself lead to many adventurous moments, and very exciting. It was almost.. organic.. like the feeling of the music taking a life of its own! It's something rare to catch something like that in KL. Hope we'll get to do it again soon, too!

Then there's the Terry Fox Run just last Sunday (Nov 4th). It's my second year doing this, and it's something I'm glad to be part of as well. I did it last year with KT, and we didn't exactly do the whole stretch, due to unclear directions. This year was much better, with race (or in this case, run-event) marshalls telling everyone where to go. There was the easy, family route (3.5km) and the advanced route (around 5.5km, although I think it's about almost 6km). This year was particularly interesting for me: I dragged my entire household with me! My parents, my brother and his girlfriend, and along the way met Devin as well! Take it from me.. to be able to get my family members out on something like this is a RARITY!! Like a Mastercard ad:

6 Terry Fox tees - RM150

Transport Costs - RM15

Whole Chan Family clan doing Terry Fox Run: PRICELESS!

They managed to finish the family route, and I of course, did the long, advanced route. It was really nice fun, and it's a real good way to have spent time with my family like that.

Here are some pics:

That same evening, I went to the Top Room to do the Jazz Association of Malaysia's (JAM) second event, the JAM Jazz Appreciation Workshop by Michael Veerapen. Michael conducted the workshop, with me on sax, Fly on bass, and Martin on drums, in the band. Quite a few interested people showed up (could've been more), but it went really well. Hopefully there are some that will come out knowing better what happens in a jazz performance and not look like a total blur! Will post pictures if I manage to get some. Then there was the jam session, which was pretty happening as well. Both older and younger generation musos were there to jam (yours truly being in the latter, thank you!).

Got some gigs coming up, as well. Do check the Upcoming Performances for dates and times and all the necessary information.

Next time..

Some Kenny Garrett videos..

2007-10-10T12:51:00.000+08:00

Here are some Youtube vids of my saxophone inspiration.. Enjoy!

1) 2 Down 1 Across - part 1

2) 2 Down 1 Across - part 2

3) Marcus Miller - Run For Cover (somehow Kenny kicks ass in MM's band, or any band he plays in! Ahahah...)

4) Kenny's solo in MJ's "Human Nature" in Miles Davis Live in Paris

More coming...

All Blues (almost)

2007-10-09T10:45:00.001+08:00

Backstage at a Maria Schneider concert.. bunch of fellas messing 'round.. FUNNY! A HAha..

Weaver of Dreams - Sonny Rollins

2007-10-09T05:05:00.001+08:00

Nice trio work by one of the greatest (and living) sax legends - Sonny Rollins. Enjoy...

Fresh...

2007-10-07T03:21:00.000+08:00

Just got back from the Jazz Latino gig at Bangkok Jazz.

First off, I want to say THANKS to those who came and watched the show. We really hope you enjoyed it as much as we enjoyed playing the music for you.

Anyway, it's my first public cum club gig after a three week lay-off. I didn't have any gigs during the first three weeks of the puasa month, so it was a good break for me from working, and to some extent, from music (or at least the performance aspect of it). As much fun and exciting performing is, after a certain time (especially after a long busy season), my head gets really saturated, and I get tired mentally real quickly. It's quite hard to get inspired musically when I get into that stage. I even get bored of my own playing. So this break is something I look forward to.

So after all of that, the last two nights was rather exciting and refreshing for me. I found myself much more focused - or rather, able to focus better - in my playing, and my ideas come out rather nicely. Execution also feels easier. Feels fresh to play. I actually get to enjoy playing!

I'm looking forward to these next few weeks, I've already got gigs lined up almost every weekend (possibly EVERY weekend!). So, do keep posted with the Upcoming Performance section on the right panel of my blog. I do hope to be able to see some of you guys there.

On the US front...

Well, some of you are wondering, "Why the heck is Julian still in KL?". *Sigh* For some strange reason, the way the Americans work in the school is so slow, it's not funny! (Sorry Ken.. hahah!). The last time I called the school, they still have not got my application reviewed by the music school! Argh. I really have to call them to chase the program director to forward my application to the graduate admissions office! Argh!

Anyway, I just wanted to write something here. I guess it's been quite a while since I last did, for real. So here I am!

Later.. have a good weekend, y'all!

CONCERT: Gruvavenue "The Awakening" Live Concert at The Actors Studio, Bangsar

2007-09-30T20:08:00.001+08:00

Hey all,

Here's a plug for my bass player, Vincent Ong's band, GruvAvenue, for their upcoming concert!

Go check it out..

Support the local jazz scene!

CHANNELING THE GROOVE INTO YOUR SYSTEM

- GruvAvénue "The Awakening" Live Concert in The Actors Studio, Bangsar -

(click to see actual size)

Kuala Lumpur , 1 Sept 2007 – Once in awhile in the musical incubator of the downtown club scene, a truly musically sophisticated work with broad appeal emerges as if from nowhere. The truth, of course, is that these gems are the results of years of hard work, artistic development and unique musical vision: all these crystallize the release of self-titled debut album " GruvAvénue" in 2005.

Formally known as "Black Machine", GruvAvénue exploded into the KL music scene with its inaugural performance in The Actors Studio, Plaza Putra in 2001. The band continued to make special appearances at jazz clubs such as the legendary No Black Tie, Alexis Wine Bar & Bistro, Jazz Bar @ The Orange, Bangkok Jazz, Livehouse Niche and various Jazz Festivals. Soon after, the band enjoyed heavy rotation o n Australian smooth jazz station, The Breeze106.3 and constant airplay on national radio station, Traxx FM, Jazz Selekta.

Looking forward, GruvAvénue is set to wow audience again with yet another feat – the first Malaysian Jazz group to record a live album. Scheduled for October 3, 2007, at The Actors Studio, the band will captivate audience with their full range of original compositions. The elements are delicate melodies, strong rhythmic sense, vibrant harmonic nuances and pulsating grooves!

GruvAvénue keeps a simple and yet organic instrumentation – bass, saxophone, drum, keys and vocals. As a collective, "GruvAvenue" artists come from a wide range of jazz backgrounds which sees as a binding force. These musicians embrace not only free improvisations but also appreciate tonal composition and extended musical forms and changes. Any brief moments of conventionality are trumped by eclecticism, an excellent composing transcends the established musical borders and stares down current definitions of what jazz should be. They have come together with a love for the new as well as the old…each bringing a universal quality that reaches out to varied audience.

Vincent Ong, bassist described as a friendly iconoclast, an artist who enthusiastically explores new concepts at the cutting edge of jazz. A stylistic chameleon that uses different textures and colors to create tension and augment a song's complexity.

Tay Cher Siang , pianist with flawless embrace for the keys presents the 'sweet' touch. Somewhat authoritative yet moving, he hovers somewhere between homage and prayer while slowly building and then writhing the mood.

Martin Ngim, drummer brings the groove with strong rhythmic sense and tenacity. Moving from seductive percussion works to vivacious raw grooves, he adds vigor to the group.

Shazee Ishak, saxophonist and rapper brings forth sensual harmonic nuances on his wind instrument and expands the group's spectrum of sound with intoxicating loops through modern technology.

Vanessa Tan, a gift to jazz buffs. Not just for her exuberance but her ability to articulate without resorting to imitation, synthesizes with her own estimable talent and results is eye-opening and entertaining. She can shift from one color and feel to the next deftly, moving from throaty version to swinging up-tempo.

Five amazing talents, one amazing sound. "The Awakening" Live Concert promises a dynamic group and energetic performance.

Ticket Info :-

Price: RM 38 nett (inclusive of ticket charges)

Box Office: The Actors Studio, Level 3, West Wing, Bangsar Shopping Centre.

Telephone: +603 2094 0400 / 1400

Opens: Daily 10:30 AM to 6:30 PM

For more information:-

Log on to www.blackmachine.com.my

Email to gruvavenue@gmail.com

Call Band Leader, Vincent +6012 390 9828.

Break..break..

2007-09-13T13:27:00.000+08:00

Greetings from Lion City.. going wireless in Starbucks now..

So..

Just taking a little break from work in KL, and just wanted to get out of town. Feeling quite stressed with work and all, so it's always nice just to get out, even if it's to another city.

Singapore is usually my multiple-trip holiday place, especially if I want to be out of KL for a couple of days. So, I come here a few times a year. For me, it's a great place to hang out, with a slightly different music scene, and usually quite a welcoming one, too. It's always refreshing to see a different group of musicians playing, and for most part, the level of musicianship is generally much higher here, so it's always a challenge to play with some of these guys.

Oh yeah, Singapore's a real nice place to shop, too... I've already got some nice stuff here, which you would usually get at a premium in KL...just got a nice pair of Croc slippers for about S$54... a nice pair of AKG mini headphones... The World According to John Coltrane DVD.. some jazz CDs you can't find in KL... and still shopping.. LOL!

On another note..

I just read that Joe Zawinul passed away yesterday!! Man, that's really sad news... he was one of the pioneers of the jazz fusion front, being one of the main members in Miles Davis' band, Cannonball Adderley's band (Joe wrote Mercy, Mercy, Mercy by the way), and of course Weather Report. Even his own band, Zawinul Syndicate, pushed the musical boundaries in the jazz spectrum, incorporating different rhythms from different parts of the world.

This is truly a sad year for music...

Rest in peace, Joe!

Here's a nice Youtube vid of Joe with his Zawinul Syndicate band, featuring Kenny Garrett.

First JAM Event

2007-09-08T16:47:00.000+08:00

ANNOUNCEMENT:

On behalf of Pro Tem Secretary Junji Delfino (while her internet connection is down), I am pleased to announce that The Jazz Association of Malaysia (JAM) will be organizing its first event and here are the details:

JAM Get-Together
Venue: The Top Room @ Top Hat Restaurant. 7 Jalan Kia Peng, KL
Date and Time: 9 September 2007 (Sunday), 4pm onwards
Entrance: FREE

OPEN TO ALL!!

This is basically an open-to-all event, which starts from 3pm, and trails off to the Sunday Jam Session which (usually) starts at 6.30pm until 9pm (or well past if it gets too hot full of musos on stage!).

As this is our first open event, we're starting off with some rather casual activities, including DVD screenings of some live jazz performances and some documentaries, ranging from Keith Jarrett to Buena Vista Social Club. There will probably also be some short performances by established jazz musicians and bands, to make things more interesting (what's a jazz event without a jazz performance, anyway, right?). There will also be some finger food (liver pate and bread, I heard), courtesy of JAM's Pro Tem Secretary, Junji Delfino.

The main objective of this event, is really to just get people who are interested, to come bask in the wonderful spirit of jazz, including musos and non-musos. And this will also be a good opportunity to try to attract new members into the association. Prospective members can sign up and join the association anytime during this meet!! So do inform your friends who are interested to join, and get them to come by this Sunday to sign up.

As the Ramadhan month approaches, please do note that this weekend's event will be the last weekend of live jazz performances at the Top Room for the entire month, as The Top Room jazz programme will be taking a hiatus during this period. Regular programming will resume after the Ramadhan fasting month is over. So, in the spirit of any jazz jam session, let's make this a big, rowdy, one!!

For more information, please contact JAM via email, or contact Pro-Tem Secretary Junji Delfino at +60162254868.

Why...

2007-09-08T03:13:00.000+08:00

.... are things the way they are?

.... are people the way they are?

.... must one feel this way?

.... must one experience such things?

.... can't one find it?

.... must things be complicated?

.... don't I understand?

.... am I here?

Bye bye Frogway!

2007-09-02T19:11:00.000+08:00

It's finally over...

Frogway the Musical has just finished its last run just a few hours ago at the Actor's Studio Bangsar. It has been quite a crazy few weeks for me, and now it's finally finished. I thoroughly enjoyed working with Michael Veerapen and the Frogway band (Eddie, Fly, Zahid, Charles and Ee Jeng) on this, and the other members of this production - the cast, as well as the crew.

By far, I think the musical was a real success, and there has been some good reviews about it too. But whatever it was, I enjoyed playing every show, and every show had been different in very subtle ways.

Just a side note: By the way, during the final matinee show, we found out that Mel Gibson was sitting among the audience watching the show!! And he came backstage during the intermission, and I flipped out in my head (while trying to remain looking cool). Wow! MEL GIBSON, man!!! Too bad, I didn't manage to get a pic with him.. damn!!

Anyway, it has been a really good (and funny) three weeks, but I'm glad it's over. I'm due for my next break, and since it'll be fasting month this month, I think it'll be a great opportunity for me to take a break from work and regroup myself. Can't wait..

To the cast and crew, the musicians, and the producers, and especially Michael Veerapen (for roping us into doing this show)... THANK YOU for the great three weeks, and it had been a real pleasure and experience working with you guys!

*UPDATE* PS: Thanks for the surprise, btw... I really appreciate it from you guys...!!

To everyone who sent me SMS-es and all, thanks very much for the wishes! You all sure made my day.. I really appreciate it!

Frog-bites!

2007-08-26T23:55:00.000+08:00

Greetings from the bandstand of Frogway...

It's the fourth day (and five shows) of the musical, Frogway, and it's been quite fun so far. Just a little bandstand info: The music of Frogway is generally played LIVE by a live band led by one of Malaysia's leading pianist/jazz musician, Michael Veerapen. The musicians involved are Michael Veerapen on piano/keyboards, Ee Jeng on 2nd keyboards, Fly on double bass and electric bass, Zahid Ahmad on V-drums, Eddie Wen on trumpet, and myself on saxophones and flute. Michael is also the composer of all the tunes in the musical, and quite a number of the songs were written by him in the 80s, with some contemporary twists this time around, of course. Saidah Rastam is the musical director for the musical.

The cast of Frogway are Vince Chong as Eddy the Frog, Harith Iskander (also director) as Smiley the Snake, Elaine Daly as Susannah the Stork, Ina Fabergas as Helen the Fish and Michelle the Frogette, Marielle Fabergas as Renee the Frogette, Chelsia Ng as Shirley the Frogette, Thor Kar Hoong as Horatio Frog (and some other characters and voice-overs) and Ash Nair as Freddy the Toad. Quite a zany cast, I might add, and all very good performers.

The band only had one-and-a-half weeks of intense rehearsals, so we managed to get fairly familiar with the tunes by the time we got together at the Actor's Studio to do the tech runs, and stage rehearsals. And we are pretty much having quite a lot of fun playing, and watching the cast act and sing, and also mess around with different sound effects for different scenes. We not only had to play our instruments like musical instruments, we also ended up with making different sound effects with it - Eddie does elephant, horse, frog sounds among other stuff, with his trumpet, while I make monkey sounds with the soprano, and bird sounds with my flute. Ee Jeng plays various sound effects with his Roland Fantom X synth that makes the acting bits of the show a whole lot more interesting. Even Michael plays a variety of sounds with his FP-1 digital piano!

Anyway, here are some cool pics taken with my phone with the band as well as some other actors in the show. Enjoy.

Harith as Smiley the Snake (check out da makeup!)

Da band l-r: Zahid, Ee Jeng, Eddie, fat-sax, Mike, and Fly

Horny horns with Eddy da Frog (Vince)

Eddy (Vince), Horatio (Thor), and Freddy (Ash)

By the way, I believe there are still tickets and another 8 shows to go.. so call 03-20940400 now to get your tickets and get your giggles at Frogway!

Later... Hisssssssss....ribbit!!

PS: We got rid of those green shirts in favor of a penguin suit instead.. tee hee...

Frogway

2007-08-24T10:53:00.001+08:00

Surprise Voice presents

Frogway

Eddy the Frog has to leave his pond home because he sings, instead of croaking. He finds fame, fortune and riotous living on "Frogway", but to his horror finds out that his agents, Snake and Stork are planning to eat him. Will melon seeds save the day? Will pond life ever be the same again?

Frogway is a groovy musical directed by the formidable Harith Iskander, with music by Michael Veerapen. Starring Vince Chong, with Harith, Elaine Daly,Thor Kah Hoong, Ina Fabregas, Chelsia Ng, Ash Nair,and Marielle Fabregas. Music direction by Saidah Rastam, musical staging by Sean Ghazi.

Dates & Times: 23th, 24th, 27th - 29th August @ 8.30pm, 25th August & 1st September @ 3pm & 8.30pm, 26th August & 2nd September @ 3pm

Ticket: RM100, RM80, RM60 (RM2.00 ticket charge is applicable)

Special promotions:

15% discount for matinees, Mondays & Tuesdays (adult tickets only)

50% discount for students and senior citizens

For tickets, please contact TAS@BSC at 03-2094 0400/1400

Want to win tickets to watch Frogway? Click here!

The thing with New York...

2007-08-24T00:52:00.000+08:00

I got a place in Queens College (at least that's what I have been told)....

... but I only got it for the Spring intake, which means February 2008.

Looks like I'll be sticking around town for a little while more. Sigh.

Well, as much as I was irked initially with this, but I accept that there's always a reason for anything and everything that happens, but it's just not always clear at first. I just gotta have faith in it..

This time around, I am gonna make sure I get all my affairs down way in advance, just so that something like this don't happen again... then I'll never get to leave this town!

This leaves me more time to hit the woodshed with my horns, and also to save some more money!

Oh well..

Ecstatic..

2007-08-13T17:39:00.001+08:00

... that was what the Greg Lyons Nonet (GLN) gig at No Black Tie was, last weekend. At least, that was what it was like for me! But I think ALL of us felt it... and everyone played their a$$es off last weekend too!

The GLN did a three-night stint at NBT last weekend from Thursday to Saturday. This was after over a year of the band taking a hiatus! I think the last performance I did with the GLN was at the Penang Island International Jazz festival almost two years ago! But anyhow, I think this was the best Nonet gig I've done so far, not just for me, but I think for the entire band in general! The music and the energy was just so overwhelming, I think this gig is a record for me - three straight GOOD nights in a row!! The most I've had was two!

Anyway, the band consisted of 9 members (hence, a NONET): rhythm section - Justin Lim (piano), AJ (drums), and the legendary and unimitable Andy Petersen on bass, and the horn section - Greg Lyons (bandleader/composer/arranger/saxophones), Julian Chan (alto sax, flute), Cheryl Mah (baritone sax), Eddie Wen and Boon Sim (trumpets/flugelhorn), and Lillian Loo (trombone). We played basically all of Greg's compositions and arrangements of non-originals.

What was interesting about this gig as well, was that we only had the Thursday afternoon to rehearse the band, and then play on the night itself. It was a challenge because we had two newbies to the band - Boon Sim and Lillian, and what made it even more challenging was that Greg's material is anything BUT straight-forward, with different kinds of grooves and odd-meters. The rest of the members were mostly familiar and a bit more comfortable with it, but what was really enjoyable about the whole experience was that I think we're better at it now, than the last time. After all, one-and-a-half years of continuous playing challenging music
does a lot for one's musical development! And personally, my flute playing is still crap, so that was a challenge in itself! But I made sure I practiced my flute a lot more during the week before the gig, just to get some chops back, and for most part, it held up!! Greg even made me solo on flute!! Man.. breathless!!

Anyway, we played a bunch of Greg's tunes, arranged for the Nonet, such as Out From The Shadows (a nice mixture of 7/4, 4/4, and 5/4 meters), Bridge of Sighs (this crazy one has 7/4, 2/4, and 6/4), Forward Motion (title track of his upcoming Nonet album), Heart Of Stone, Built To Last, Global Ties, Twin Flow, Spring Loaded (two nice swing-based tunes), and two new ones - Satin Doll (a nice new Afro-Cuban rhythm rearrangement), and East Coast Park (a fresh new tune, 5/4 triplet-feel - unfinished, though). Some other tunes that Greg did involved only me and Eddie, such as Up To You (one of Greg's early originals), and John Coltrane's Central Park West.

It was an amazing three-night gig for me, at least. I think Greg felt the same way, too. I was thinking about, I can only think of these few reasons:

- Greg's playing...

- Greg's music...

- Justin's playing.. man, this guy is a real "sat sau"!!!!

- Eddie's playing

- AJ's playing

- Andy's playing (OMG!)

- Everyone played with gutso and head-on energy!

- It was a good benchmark from the last show I did with the Nonet. I've actually found myself to be more musically connected more than before. And judging from the fact that Greg really put me on the spot with some solos on some his songs (he's never done that before!), I was mostly comfortable enough with the music to try to be creative with it... and I wasn't falling over myself doing it (not on the alto, at least.. flute? ecck..). I was really happy that Greg had the confidence to let me play at some of the solo spots on his tunes. If anything, it was sort of an affirmation of sorts... I have much more to learn, but I know that I've come a long way than I'd ever thought possible... and now, it's just a matter of moving on further.

At the end of the last note of the last night, I actually felt so happy... and sad, at the same time. I will miss this so much. I suppose I am heading for much more when I get my fat a$$ to NYC, but all this is something which is so close to my heart, I can't help feeling a little sad that I won't be getting to do this for a little while. All the musical ventures that I've been blessed to be a part of has been instrumental to whatever musical development I have now (which for me is still not a lot!). In some ways, maybe it was really for me to gear up for a bigger world. I think I'm getting ahead of myself here...

... ANYWAY...

It had been an awesome musical experience over the last weekend. I hope some of you guys get to check out the Nonet if they're playing again KL! And I hope that the album gets released, too!

till then..

Special note to Greg:

Greg... thank you so much!! You've done so much for me, no words can describe my feeling of gratitude! I hope I've made you proud, and will try to continue to do so...

The Greg Lyons Nonet Returns!!

2007-08-09T12:23:00.000+08:00

Greg Lyons

Yes... it has been a long while since the Greg Lyons Nonet (GLN) have graced the jazz scene in KL! And it's back this weekend for a three-night stint at one (of two, as far as I'm concerned) of KL's most established and discerning jazz joints, No Black Tie.. beginning tonight through to Saturday night.

Greg Lyons is a well-established saxophonist and jazz musician in the KL-Singapore jazz scene, being in South-East Asia for over 15 years now. His debut album as a leader, Island to Island, already establishes Greg as not only a versatile jazz musician/saxophonist, but also a very prolific composer, and in that effect, establishing an individual sound that is Greg Lyons.

One of his many projects, the GLN, is an outlet for Greg to present not only his original compositions, but also his eclectic arranging prowess, creating a unique sound in the ever-expanding spectrum of jazz. In the GLN, Greg utilizes a typical jazz rhythm section - piano/keys, bass, and drums - which is augmented by an addition of a 6-piece horn section, including combinations of saxophones, woodwinds, and brass.

But there's no point in talking about it.. you have to experience it LIVE!! So come by these three nights and experience jazz music that's a cut above the rest! Wanna know more? Here are the details:

THE GREG LYONS NONET @ NO BLACK TIE
VENUE: No Black Tie. 17 Lorong Mesui, off Jalan Nagasari, KL
DATE AND TIME: 9, 10, and 11 Aug 2007. Music starts 10.30pm
ADMISSION: RM30
RESERVATIONS: Call +603 2142 3737

Hope to see you there...

SUPPORT LIVE JAZZ MUSIC IN KL!!

Websites:

Greg Lyons: www.greglyons.net
Greg Lyons MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/greglyonsnet

Toppings!: The Experimental Quartet

2007-08-04T05:25:00.000+08:00

Hey all,

Just got back after a crazy night at the town... well, just at the Top Room actually! Some really crazy music happening just now, and tonight as well! If you're in for a taste of the real stuff in music, come down tonight to watch us... we've got some really crazy stuff to play!

The Experimental Quartet is Justin Lim on piano, Fung Chern Hwei on violin, Julian Chan on saxophones, and Eddie Wen on trumpet/flugelhorns. Wierd set-up... crazy musicians... out-of-the box ideas... lots of fun music (including a remake of TWO classic tunes into one... if you wanna find out what it is, you just have to come down to the Room to check it out!).

Toppings!: The Experimental Quartet

We start at 10.30pm, with cover charge RM20nett (with free crackers and free parking).

See ya.

**UPDATE**

Read all about the gig at Chern Hwei's blog!

I need..

2007-08-01T03:13:00.000+08:00

... jazz and my runs!!

Yeah.. nothing beats a bout of emotional downtime with jazz and running.. for me at least!! It's gotta be both... if not, don't even think about pissing me off!!! Ahahahaha...

Oh yeah, I finished Neil Gaiman's Anansi Boys..

.. and I picked up another two more books: Neil Gaiman's Fragile Things (short stories), and Jeffery Archer's False Impression. I'm reading through the former now...

I just got back from a recording session with David for his jazz album. We did only one tune, a composition of David's called "Home". It's a beautiful ballad... but seriously TOUGH to play. We did several takes, but I think the third take was probably the best out of the 5 - 6 takes. By the way, we're in the process of recording his FIRST actual jazz album... it's a long time coming for David. And I'm glad I'm part of it too.. woo hoo... but boy, am I seriously getting my chops busted!! I get to hear all my funny boo-boos in the recordings!! Hopefully they're good enough to be used in the album.. ha ha!

Okay.. that's it for now.. I'm too spent and sleepy after the recording. Recording a ballad takes such a heavy toll..